Counting Down
by snowflakeangel21
Summary: Tick tock, tick tock. Time is running out for Donatello, but he doesn't remember why. His family know something is coming but they don't know what, only that nothing and no one can stop it. What happened to Donnie when he went missing and what's coming to take him back?"
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone I'm back! Glazier Blue and I have come up with another thriller/hurt+comfort/family story for you all! This time it's about Donnie! I will try my best to update on regular basis due to work and the fact we are still planning on where this is going to go, but overall I hope you enjoy!**

 **Also a thanks to XxTurtletrancerxX for helping with the editing stage.**

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"Next!" The screeching voice yelled making them all flinch in fear.

Donatello remembered that he could feel the ground under him sway from side to side. Had he been able to move he likely would have fallen over. As it happens he couldn't move at all. He wasn't allowed to move, nor were any of the others for that matter. The one Donnie only knew as _'the Keeper'_ wouldn't let them. Vaguely Donnie thought about how odd it was that he couldn't see the Keeper's eyes. They were covered over, and a part of him was grateful for that. When they were staring at him Donnie felt nothing less than the terrified teenager that he was, the man had a way of looming over him blocking out all light in the world, which in this case only included a couple dim light bulbs hanging just above them. Why was he doing this to them?

"Next."

He was next! He caught the glint of something silver in the Keeper's hand and Donnie knew it was for him, and yet he couldn't object... None of them could object. He couldn't talk or hardly breathe. Then he felt it. The place clawed and cut away into his body, then the burning started. When he was finished, Donnie's vision blurred. Whether it was from the pain or he was just trying to blink back some tears, but he was aware that something cold was been placed around his neck...

Tick, tick, tick... on the end of a chain. His count down had started.

"Next," Another one had just run out of time.

He moaned and slumped, his legs failing completely as the space kept spinning. But Donatello was more concerned for the many others that were here. They were lined up like cattle. He remembered another stood beside him bound with his arms high, such as he was. The other couldn't have been much older than him... They had never spoken, and yet the constant glances provided some kind of strange comfort. They were both trapped in this Hell.

"Next," it was now this one's turn.

Donnie would never forget the kids bulging eyes that were filled with terror as the Keeper burned off the others skin. Donnie remembered watching in horror as it melted away for a new skin to materialise. The kid screamed, choked, before dropping as the fog made him forget and then he fell quiet. _"I'm so sorry,"_ Donnie could only mumble silently. It was all he could do.

Tick, tick,tick...

"Next," The Keeper looked at him again. Donnie knew that he would again be _'next'_ and his time would run out!

He was going to die today, he knew it. It was an astoundingly clear thought that pierced through everything else, and the fear of it hit him like a big black truck! Then something happened and all Donnie remembered was telling himself to run! He knew he couldn't run away from a bad dream, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. The world spun so hard and fast he couldn't figure out which way was up in time to stop his stomach from heaving.

Everything was left behind as he began to run as fast as he could... Soon silence fell, everything was gone and it was as cold as shell. A deathly chill ran through him and he shivered trying to pull his arms up to fend off the sudden cold. At least he wasn't having that nightmare any more. Donnie was sure if he woke up he would find himself safe at home in his bed, or more likely slummed over on his lab table.

" _Come on Donatello! Wake up!"_ It was only then that Donnie's brain kicked itself into gear. He shook his head and the world started to come back to him. The purple clad turtle groaned, automatically his hand travelled to his head trying to relieve the pressure. "Ok what new fresh hell have I been subjected to this time?" He moaned miserably. Opening his eyes Donnie found himself looking up at the night sky. There were no clouds, no wind... nothing. Everything was still. The entire city was dead. A consistent bombardment of images burned into his mind as he tried to shake out the nightmares... Donnie blinked a few times before he could turn his head to see that he was surrounded by clutters of garbage... He was at the garbage dump!

Specifically one of the older DSNY garbage dumps, it was Donnie's favourites to salvage from. Still used but not too active, it was the perfect balance. He has spent so much time at this garbage dump looking for things to reuse, but not recently... "How did I get here?" Was he coming to this place in his sleep now? The last word eased out in a long, frustrated sigh, for he _didn't_ actually remember coming to the dump. It wasn't safe to be out alone at the moment, Leo had said so. _"Leo!"_ Donnie sat up too quickly making his head spin. Then he was gasping. Donnie suddenly realised that there wasn't enough air in his lungs. He was choking! Quickly but reluctantly he had to lay back down, returning his scaly body to the cold mud until his breath came back, hopefully more memories would soon follow.

He _had_ been out with his brothers. That was the last thing he remembered clearly. They were together, trying to take control of the current crisis…. Whatever that had been…. But then what happened? No matter how fast they were running out of supplies at home he was never frustrated enough to do something stupid, like disobey orders and go off to the junk yard on his own. Maybe something had happened and they got separated? What if his brothers were out on their own somewhere? What if they were hurt? Or maybe someone jumped him? No. If that had happened he would be waking up seeing the walls of a cell right now, not the sky.

Again Donnie tried to sit up, slowly this time, as his bottom half sank deeper into the muddy pit he had been laying in. His head was pounding and every muscle, every bone in his body, had turned to jelly... and he still couldn't hear anything except a light buzzing sound...where was that coming from? Either way it was causing the dull throbbing headache to build up behind his eyes. What seemed to bother him more was his hands... Pins and needles vibrated through the tips of his fingers. His arms numb from the lack of circulation, except his wrists. They both hurt and they looked swollen, but mostly they were filthy and soaking wet in ice cold mud from head to toe, in a garbage dump. Nice... At least it was Summer for New York at the moment. Had it been winter, he wouldn't have been waking up at all and oh gosh he was thirsty! The crisp cold air grate at his throat making him wish for liquid, yet his gut ached like he had just eaten all of his brother's pizza at once. Not likely. But the feeling also made even the prospect of drinking a dread.

After some time contemplating, which mainly consisted of him staring blankly up at the sky, he willed himself to stand. The wet mud pit came up as high as his ankles. It was going to be a struggle to reach the Exit. Thankfully he knew where he was. He knew this place like the back of his shell, but the opening exit of the high fence seemed to be taking a very long time to reach as dizziness consumed his vision. He couldn't be walking in a straight line... Could he?... His limbs were so light, and yet every step he took seemed to drag. It was a weird sensation. Donnie gasped as pain suddenly shot up his leg, tumbling forward he caught himself before his face hit the dirt again... He should call his brothers, tell them where he was. At the very least he should tell them that he was alive. Only when Don went to reach for his shell-cell he realised it was gone... which meant his tracker was gone to! Oh shell this was NOT good. If his brothers had been out looking for him, they wouldn't have had a clue where to start... and running around blindly looking for a brother was a good way to put yourself in danger. Out of all his brothers how could he be the one to lose his phone! It was their number one rule. Or had someone taken it? But that wasn't all that was missing. All his miss-matched gear he remembered wearing before was also gone! Saturated in mud he stood in only his usual knee pads, arm pads, and hopefully still purple mask.

Not that it was hard to figure out, but Donnie decided to make it official and quickly concluded that he was sick or injured... Probably both. Either way all he could hear was that buzzing. It blocked out all other sound from the street. Buzzing? No... it was more a... a _ticking_...like a clock. That was strange. _"I wonder what the time is?"_ He looked at his watch only to find that that too was missing... Then where was the ticking coming from? It sounded close by...Oh it could be his heart beat! Just the normal rapid beating of his blood pounding in his ears… He must be in shock... Although it was odd that he had the presence of mind to even know that he was in shock. Donnie decided to take it as a good sign.

He had to get out of here. He must have been gone for a good few hours since their last patrol. His family would be worried to death about him. A sudden painful attack of the shivers under his shell caused him to gasp. _He_ was going to catch his death first if he stayed out here much longer and decided all these very important questions would have to wait, at least until he got home. He had to find his brothers first. He hoped they were in better shape than he was.

Donnie somewhat believed that Leo and Raph were going to have his shell for this since they are very overly protective. With some effort he pulled himself to his feet again as the lit up EXIT sign continued to sway in and out of his vision. Was this how being drunk felt? The genius hadn't had much experience in drinking alcohol. That was Raph's thing. But he imagined being intoxicated pretty much felt like this. Why would anyone willingly want to feel like this is insane!

Don stumbled his way out of the rubbish pile into a dark street. He didn't know what to make of the day he had had so far, and he had no idea what to expect from the rest of the night... All he did know was that he was in no shape to climb a building right now. In his current state that would be suicide. He would have to take the long way home, down the back alleys, and just hope he didn't run into anyone on the way, which at the moment seemed more than possible to accomplish as the feeling of isolation grew. There was not one soul to be seen, human or otherwise, which was pretty unusual for the city that never sleeps.

But the streets didn't just feel empty, they were also swaying, like the deck of a ship in a hurricane. Donnie knew it was him he just couldn't walk straight as the nausea increased. The street lights above him spun as he looked up. He didn't even realise he was falling again until he caught himself on the side of a car.

Struggling to catch his breath, the teen caught a glance of his reflection in the black wind-shield... What he saw made his breath catch slightly and the tightening in his gut increased. He really was a muddy mess, and a bloody one it seems! He gasped as he tried to wipe the dirt from his face but it was his eyes that stood out. The white of his eyes were huge... Almost bulging. And even with the filth and his mask the dark circles around them looked more like bruises, with cliché sunken cheeks to match. For some reason his lips were cracked, obviously from the cold. Don opened his mouth in drunken experimentation. He watched as a dot of blood pooled out of one of the lower cracks that slit open his bottom lip. The same sick kind of feeling gripped Donnie as he looked himself over. What had happened to him? And why could he not remember?

Pushing himself again, the turtle headed down the nearest dark alley he knew and back to the safety of the shadows. Almost right away more feeling in his limbs started to come back to him. When it did however, he wished it hadn't. At the beginning he was only shivering from the cold, but the icy air pressing against him only seemed to increase the sensation of the burning growing in his left thigh. It was spreading across his hip and down his leg... but when Don looked all he could see was a small puncture. There was some swelling around it, and thanks to the narrow light from off the street he could see that blood had already dried on the skin. It looked like a nasty bee sting... but it felt like someone was taking a blowtorch to his hip. It was probably infected from sitting in the garbage dump. "Marvellous! Another mystery to freak out about and solve later," the genius mumbled. He would normally have questions coming out of his ears, but his brain was too spaced out at the moment... was this how Mikey felt? No wonder he could never focus!

It took some time... way too much time… but Donnie stumbled further down the alley using the wall to guide him until he found what he was looking for. The storm drain cover called out to him like a life line. He didn't even have the frame of mind to check that the surrounding area was clear before he slipped down into the sewers. Even with the help of the ladder it wasn't at all a graceful landing. Again the turtle found himself on all fours shaking uncontrollably. He may not remember what had happened today, but he was already sure that it wasn't good.

On the way Donnie thought about what was coming...Oh he was in cataclysmically BIG trouble! They weren't meant to separate on patrol, not in the current situation they were facing. He could have been seen, or taken, or even killed lying out in the open in the garbage dump for all those hours. When they asked what happened what was he going to say? That he didn't remember? Oh _that_ was going to go down well!

It was a miracle he knew where he was going. But luckily he had installed security cameras to pinpoint which tunnel to take to the lair. He wasn't far from home... but his steps seemed to drag more than before. The short burst of adrenaline that got him up was fading while his migraine only grew. "Almost there, hold on," he ordered his body. Hopefully Splinter and Leo and Raph would hold off giving him a hard time till after he felt better.

It felt like forever but soon the lair entrance was just around the next corner. He was almost home. Over there was the main door that entered straight into the main living quarters. With a short surge of warm homely energy Donnie pulled back the pipe that released and tripped the switch, the secret door automatically flew open and to his great relief the teen saw his brothers a few seconds before they saw him.

Pushing his dizziness aside and shaking around his frozen limbs he kept his eyes on his three brothers .They all just seemed to be standing around in the entrance glaring at one another. Leo had his shell to him, standing in such a way that was blocking Raphael from leaving the lair, while Mikey was trying to get in between the two. When the door opened, everything suddenly stopped dead and three pairs of wide eyes turned to greet him. Donnie got the feeling that he had just interrupted something. The red and blue clad brothers had been in the middle of a somewhat _heated_ discussion... probably about _him_ not checking in. There expression was that of shock and... oh dear, fury. Like him they had inexplicably become frozen. Even Mikey hadn't said a word as of yet.

A full five long lingering seconds passed before finally Donnie plucked up the courage to break the ice. _"Guys I can explain everything... well sort of... I think._ " He wanted to say. However when he went to actually speak out loud he found his throat had seized up. Wiping a hand about his sore throat he tried again, but this time his brothers beat him to it.

"DONNIE!" Mikey yelled at the top of his lungs before pouncing on top of him. Well at least his hearing had come back somewhat. The next thing Donnie knew he was being surrounded by coloured green turtles as they all gathered towards him. "Donnie where the shell have you been!" Don almost staggered backwards as his younger brother practically sobbed onto his shoulder with a bone crushing hug before the poor guy could noticed the trail of mud the genius had brought home with him. "Whoa Don you're a mess! Are you ok? Are you hurt?" the orange clad spoke a million miles an hour until a blue clad cut him off and swam into view.

"Donatello what...?" The shaky voice trailed off. Seemingly dazed the smart turtle looked to face the voice which apparently belonged to a mortified Leonardo. Other than his name Leo seemed to be at a complete and utter loss of what to say to him, but his face said it all. He was clearly lost between his anger, his indignation, and his joy. After a moment the big brother settled on relieved as he took Donnie into his arms, not caring how much mud he was covered in. Obviously he was still deciding what to say first? Donnie was sure he could see tears forming, but the leader held them at bay. Donnie felt a little taken aback by their reaction. He had only been missing a few hours. Yes they may have thought him dead with so much danger top side right now, but that was normally a last option after being missing for a few days, not a few hours.

Now it was Raph and his bulging eyes turned to swim into his line of vision. Donnie just knew he wasn't going to dull his razor sharp words, they were going to be delivered loud.

"We looked freaking _everywhere_ for you!" Raph snapped.

…Yup loud. But there was something in his voice, a background tone that the genius knew his hot-headed brother only had when he was given a big scare. He could tell Raph wanted to hug him, but he was just too angry. "FIVE days Donnie! Five freaking days you couldn't get to a phone? We were just on our way to the Shredder's lair to search for ya!" He yelled more exasperatedly upset than angry now. "We thought that..." he trailed off not able to continue his sentence. All his words were getting sort of jumbled together into a long infuriated roll of anger and relief. Raph wouldn't admit it but he had waved goodbye to desperation and panic after the first day of his brother's absence. They knew he must have been in trouble, but now he was here and very much alive, they wanted answers, and they better be bloody good ones. Raph took a menacing step into his brother's personal space before continuing. "What the shell happened to ya bro!?"

Donnie wanted to explain, he really did, but he couldn't say much as all his memories were just one big mass of images from the museum of horror collection... And another, his body was quickly catching up with his mind that seemed to be drifting off somewhere into outer-space... the sound of ticking lingered somewhere in the background as his brothers were growing further and further away from him.

"Well isn't it obvious he swam back here through a mud slide?" Mikey, not able to just stand on the side lines, tried to defuse the situation with his humour... But he too was displaying tears of relief without any shame. He wouldn't let Raph take a swing at his brother despite how much worry he had caused. If Donnie hadn't checked in it was only because he couldn't have.

Five days? What did he mean five days? Five as in the number that came after four? Five as in almost a week? No that couldn't be right. He had just been topside with them a few hours ago! Donnie didn't seem to understand anything that was going on, or be able to link coherent thoughts together, or formulate any words into a reasonable explanation. He tried. Donnie opened his mouth, just like you were supposed to do when you talked. Nothing. He tried again. He had to use this opportunity. The purple turtle may not get to explain himself properly later, because pain instantly shot up his dry throat cutting him off... He had to try again... Judging from the look his brothers were giving him, he could tell that they weren't satisfied with just his blank expression. No this time they wanted a detailed explanation... _Well that was a first!_ Donnie almost wanted to smile... or was that just the space growing between his brain and everything else around him. The genius knew he had to say something... anything before he was too far gone to care about anything else other than the burning pain growing in his head and in his leg.

"I... I don't... have enough...time." There. He had said _something_... He wasn't sure why he had said that, but somehow he knew it to be true and why was it getting dark in here? He thought.

"Time for what? Donnie what happened to you?" Leo asked slightly surprised at this vague declaration. Donnie was a lot of things, vague was not one of them.

The shock of his brother's return was over; it was only now that they seemed to notice under all the dirt that Donnie _did_ in fact have injuries. Leo gasped as he looked more closely at him. How bad he was they didn't know yet, but it would explain his current zombie like behaviour. Something had happened to Don, something awful. They could also tell from the smell... Yes there was a nasty stench of garbage, but with Donatello that was something they were used too. No it was the rusty metallic smell of blood coming off of him that burned their nostrils. This wasn't only bad, it could end up being the closest thing to true horror. Raph also seemed to pick up on this, his expression wilted away from anger to concern. The round of questions would have to wait until after he was whisked off to the infirmary and checked over. "Donnie?" Leo was just about to reach out for his brother when he noticed his already unfocused eyes glaze over before he started to sway.

Donnie wasn't sure what was going on, only that his dizziness had not gone... No in fact ignoring it had just made it worse. The images of his brothers gathered around him suddenly faded and he started to feel his body slump towards them. The pain in his head spiked, stabbing a hole into every intelligent thought he might have had and fogged his mind up with fuzz and nothing else. It seemed that now he was in the safety of his clan his body didn't seem to care about anything else.

"Donnie!" They all jumped. Raph worked his way out of his state of shock quick enough to duck under his brother's arms and catch him before he hit the floor.

"Donnie... buddy wake up!" The hot head yelled, holding him securely off the Lair's floor. He willed his brother to open his eyes but instead Donnie's head fell limp onto Raph's shoulder. The darkness spread throughout his brain forcing him back into the world of nightmares.

Leo quickly rushed up next to them, supporting Donnie's head up while checking the pulse in his neck. He could feel it under his fingertips, beating rapidly out of control.

Mikey choked, finally rocketing out of his shocked condition and launching forward close enough to see the last of the olive green drain away from Donnie's complexion. "What's happened to him?! Leo what's happening?" Donnie heard Mikey's scared voice cry out.

"Go get Splinter!" He heard Leo yell, and then there was no more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Where back! Thanks for waiting for chapter 2. We hope you like!**

 **Thanks to Glazier blue and sorry her name is XxTurtletracerxX. I have two betas to help me get this awesome story out for you guys!**

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"I know Donnie's out there somewhere Raph. I'm _not_ saying we shouldn't stop looking, but we do need a plan!" Leo _had_ actually been trying to calm his hot-headed brother down, but as always the conversation somehow ended up in a screaming match as everything Raph said was just so callous and stupid.

"I HAVE a plan! We go out there and tear the city apart until we find him!" Raph retorted as fear and fatigue rushed through his system without his control. Sympathising with the panic was their youngest brother Mikey who sat in the TV area glancing between the two with wide eyes, deciding whether or not to climb onto the 'hyper train' and intervene this argument.

His brother Donatello had just vanished right under their noses just after a battle. Like Raph he wanted to be out there searching for him, but they had been tearing up the city for almost a week already, everyday the desperation grew. Leo's plan of going by a map did sound a better course of action... but that would mean time, and that was something the turtles didn't have... of course wasting time searching the city didn't rank as a time saver either... Shell! Even just standing still seemed suddenly hard... Oh god! What if... what if they were already too late? What if Donnie had been killed by the dangers on the surface? There had been no trace of him. All they had found was his bo-staff in the streets just by their moving van.

Mikey tried to shake the terrifying thoughts from his head. _What if he never saw his brother again?_ Uncharacteristic of him, this thought had kept the young turtle very quiet.

"How can you just stand there Leo knowing that one of our brothers is in danger? He... he could be getting tortured or... even ' _eaten'_ or something right now? Where's your freaking moral compass now eh fearless?" Raph had always been good at arguing and Donnie deserved to have someone argue for him! He had just been there one moment and gone the next. The battle was over and Donnie had just gone to retrieve the van parked on the road down the street when he had vanished. What should have been a five minute job had turned into five long terrifying days and it had become ridiculously easy to just lose it. Truthfully the red brother was lashing out because as well as been super worried, he felt pretty dam guilty. He should have gone with Don to get the van. Even the shadows had not been safe since the attack on the President. It had become an on-going rule since then that they at the very least stay in twos. Why was it different that one night? Five minutes and now they may have lost their little brother! This fact alone seemed to amplify Raph's desperation. Though he was a self-proclaimed hard arse, he was at his wits end. They all were.

"But what if we are already too late?" Mikey knowing this was already a full-blown brawl, he might as well voice the fear they were all thinking. At his words both his brothers stopped and turned towards him.

"You mean you think he's dead?!" Raph glared at Mikey as though he had committed the worse sin before taking a menacing step in his direction. Mikey instantly recoiled by the look in his hot headed brother's eyes.

 _How dare they be talking like that!_ Raph sneered. They were justifying on giving up the search by writing him off as dead! No the red clad turtle was _not_ having that. He wouldn't abandon any of them, dead or not! "If he's dead, then we find a body!" He shouted at his youngest brother accusingly but then stopped when he saw the tears filling up his eyes. Mikey was scared. Scared of never seeing Donnie again... and likely scared of _him!_ Raph's fury was still bleeding out faster than his heart was pounding but he seemed to have been cut off at the knees as the helplessness crashed down on top of him.

"Raph" Leo stepped forward shielding their youngest brother while trying to regain his self-control. "Listen to what I'm saying! Donnie didn't just vanish. Someone has taken him. We need to find out who and why instead of just running around beating up every thug we know!"

"You mean like the... Shell! Oh my... of course. Why didn't we think of this before!? The Shredder?" Raph looked up as the realisation smashed him in the face.

"What?" Both Leo and Mikey looked up from their position in the room. Of course! It was so obvious. Their purple clad brother was a genius. If he was in trouble, he would have found a way to contact them. But instead the tracer on his phone had been cut dead. No signal from anywhere. The van keys _had_ been found in the van, which meant he _had_ reached there first. What or who could take down a genius ninja without so much as a sound... accept maybe other ninjas.

"You really think Shredder has Donnie?" Mikey asked, his teeth clenched just enough to make his voice sound strained.

"Who else? Fearless is right, this was planned. It couldn't be just any one to take one of us down. Whoever took Donnie knows what we are capable of. It had to be Shredder!" Raph had grabbed his weapons and was half way to the door before he had finished his statement...What had that evil alien done to his little brother? A new wave of panic soaked through them as they pictured the big metal suit creature hacking into Don's body while demanding their lair's location. He was in trouble and he needed them.

Hoping to make it out of the door before Leo launched into another one of his lectures... No such luck. Raph had just got as far as the entrance when his leader somehow appeared in front of him. Leo's new skills from the Ancient Ones training turned out to be graining Raph's gears much more than he wanted to admit.

"Where do you think you're going Raph?" The grinding voice in question asked. "You are NOT really just walking out of the lair to storm the Shredder's fortress!" It wasn't a question.

"Uh ya I really am! Donnie's there I know it and we have to go and get him!" Raph yelled. He hadn't even realised that he had taken up the attack position until Mikey was forcing his way in between them.

"We don't know if Shredder has Don. Even if we did we can't just go strolling in there. What's wrong with you Raph! You trying to get yourself killed!?" Leo noticing his brother's fighting stance quickly mirrored it. Raph wasn't getting passed him only to go land himself in the same cell as their clever brother. He wanted to find Don as much as they did. Heck the leader had been having a very difficult time remaining focused these few days. Donnie _wasn't_ dead. He would know in his heart if he was. A few times he and Splinter had tried to reach out to him in meditation, but had only been met with a mental brick wall. In private Leo had felt close to having a panic attack of his own. He shouldn't have taken his eyes off him, not for a second. He knew something had been wrong just after he had been missing for 10 minutes... but Leo couldn't show his worries right now. Maybe the Shredder did have something to do with his disappearance, or maybe they were just grasping at strews... but it _was_ a place to start... However there had to be a safer way than sneaking up to Shredder's front door. They had to come up with a new plan right now. "We don't know where he is, and he is _hardly_ likely to come walking back through that door and tell us -"

Leo was suddenly cut off by the sound of the lairs automated doors opening behind him and the shocked, gasped faces of Raph and Mikey looking over his shoulders pause him long enough for him to guess _who_ had in fact just walked in. The brothers looked at each other for a long beat before the leader could find the mental capacity to actually turn around and see none other than Donatello... A very muddy, pale face of Donatello who looked like he was ready to fall!

Oh shell!

…...

Between bouts of darkness Donnie was aware of voices. He couldn't depict who was who, only that it was the voices of his brothers, talking way too fast. He _was_ aware however of many around him, holding him up and shifting him about like a rag doll... Further adding to his inner relief he suddenly felt his father's furry hand resting on his forehead. His thumb stroking across his brow... that was nice. The slight massaging movement relieved the tension in his head, and it was so warm, perhaps too warm. Was Splinter's hand supposed to be this hot? The hand reminded him of just how cold he was. Not good.

"Holy sewer-apples! What do we do?" Ok that was Mikey. They must be worried about him.

Splinter mumbled something that sounded urgent. So this was what it was like being on the _receiving_ end of a medical emergency for a change... It was an amusing, but an unsettling thought. A reminder that most of his brother's medical knowledge came from Wikipedia... But they _were_ quite level headed, most of the time. Plus Master Splinter would know what to do. Speaking of his father the moment his sensei's hand disappeared he felt a sudden rush from the floor. The movement was so fast that it sent a shock wave of pain through his skull. He wanted to gag at the shattering pain spiralling through his temple. There was a sound of rushing feet along with more quickly spoken words, broken by huffs as they struggled to keep up with...who he assumed was Raph carrying him. But somewhere, between here and wherever he was going, he blacked out again.

The next time Donnie was aware of something was when he involuntarily jerked in surprise as a steady stream of lukewarm water pelted gently against his arms and shell. The shock made his eyes flicker open. There were only two mumbling voices around him now. Everything was a blur, but he could see his legs, was he in the... in the bath tub?

It was the feeling of heated dread that held him firmly in this one position as he realised what was going on. They must be trying to bring his temperature slowly back up, not to mention getting Donnie clean from the grime of the streets. The water falling off of him from the shower head and down the drain was already discoloured from the mud, but at least he could see his olive green skin again.

He knew there was a presence beside him and another one behind. The person sitting behind him was supporting his neck and upper body up into a scrunched seated position while scrubbing his shell. Donnie could finally see that he was practically lying on the guy, while feeling his other presence beside him lightly soaking the last of the grime from his arms. The squeaking sound of the knob turning made him jump, but the slightly warmer water hitting him felt good. If his temperature had dropped too low then the best thing to do was to place him in cool water and gradually warm it up to prevent him from going into shock... but still... _They were giving him a shower!_ Donnie hadn't had to be bathed with his brothers since he was 7 years old, back when they still had to conserve water.

How embarrassing.

Turning his head slightly it took a moment before Donnie could see who was here; even though he was sure he already knew who it was. His father noticing that he was awake smiled gratefully at him but there was a great deal of worry in his eyes. "Be still my son. We have almost finished." Although Splinter spoke quietly Donnie didn't miss the range of emotions in his tone. There was sadness, a great deal of concern... but more than that, there was anger. Was Splinter angry at him for going missing? Surely they must have known that he wouldn't have separated for so long on purpose?

Donnie was about to open his mouth when another glance down at his own body cut him off. Now that he was clean the bruising around his limbs and the swelling on his leg was all too clear. He wasn't sure how bad he was, but he was sure Splinter did. That's why the rat looked angry. He wasn't mad at him, he was mad at who ever had done this to him. Donnie blinked as he tried to think back as to what exactly had happened, but sighed miserably when he pulled up a big cloud of nothing. He turned his thoughts away from that topic, instead focusing on how many aches and pains he was going to have tomorrow, and for the coming week. Mostly from his hip he could tell. It wasn't until he looked at it did he remember how much it hurt. Splinter had already cleaned it and the cool water was helping at the moment but it was already starting to throb again.

"Take it easy Don. We'll have you fixed up in a moment," Leo's voice was behind him. So that's who was holding him up. Just like when they were turtle tots. When the four of them had started to get too big for the tub they had to start going in twos instead of fours. His eldest brother here had always been his bath buddy. However now at 16, it wasn't as much fun... but it didn't seem the time to be bothered about his pride. He could hardly move. But there was something he did want to know, something important. He wasn't sure why it was important, he only knew that it was.

"What time is it?" Donnie asked rather urgently.

"The time?" Leo said like it was an odd question, maybe because it was. "Really Donnie it doesn't matter how late it is. You're home. That's all that's important," Leo patted his shoulder reassuringly. Donnie didn't argue. All he had wanted to do was find his way home, but for some reason he felt like he was on borrowed time. The ticking of the clock in the main Lair was a constant reminder that his victory could be taken away from him again at any second. This thought made the young teen hold his father's side that much tighter.

"My son?" His father said, trying to ground him through familiar tone and phrasing. He didn't want to disturb his boy, but now that Donatello was awake they had to gather as much information as they could. "Donatello who did this to you?" He asked tenderly but still the sense of urgency was there. Even Leo stopped scrubbing his shell so he could listen. Tonight they had been ready to explode, particularly Raph. He had been ready to march out of the lair and tear the city apart, as nothing more than an excuse to fire his anger around like a gun. But now Don was home. All that anger could be put to better use, and aimed in the direction of the monsters responsible for making his most passive, but brave brother look like Raphael's punching bag.

Donnie tried to think. All he had was a small handful of images that didn't make any sense. Images that were just too horrible, too terrifying... but they seemed to have burned into his eyes. There was mumbling moans of agonising pain surrounding him... Others trying to cry out for help... but they couldn't. He remembered when it was _his turn_... the dim lights went out to be replaced with a flashing green light beam. He blinked his eyes as he wanted to see what was going on, but the direct light blinded him as it quickly scanned over his body before coming to pin point a particular place on his skin at the top of his leg for an... an injection... or abstracting blood? Either way it hurt. A cold and dead white face loomed over him... No. Not over...in front of him. HIM! Donnie remembered that he could see himself in the man's glasses. They were like two small perfectly round black mirrors, silly things really….. At least they should have been, even in the dark he could see that face pierced through his very soul as he came at him once again. When he was finished with his leg, he soon came back with a new needle that looked half the size of a rifle.

Where was he going with that? If only looks could kill, but the man didn't have any fear of him... not while he was bound. In fact Donnie remembered a few times he chuckled at them. The genius was at a loss to find anything funny. The large syringe looked to be coming towards his face! Wait the needle? No this was something bigger, with a rounder tip. Where did the needle go? Was he finished with that?

A new image. An image of the man coming at him with some strange liquid in a large syringe but with no needle... because... because it was for him to _ingest_ NOT inject! _"Leo... help me!"_ He thought. Donnie wanted to spit it out, but his mouth seemed to be locked in one position... in fact his entire head had a vice like pressure around it not allowing him much movement. But the tight pressure was feeding all the way into his mouth and down his throat. Kind of like been incubated, only not to breathe, if anything it was making him gag as he could only breathe through his nose... and he was awake!

 _"Raphie!"_ The man grabbed him roughly by the chin forcing his head up a little as he yanked at the piece fixture in his mouth before injecting the contents down his throat, but it never touched his tongue. As the liquid was forced down, he felt it _burn_ through the plastic... He couldn't stop it. Donnie wince repressing tears as the man bruised his cheeks before resealing his mouth. His lips felt slimy from sweat and tears. It was gross.

 _"Mikey... Father where are you?!"_ His arms throbbed and twisted as he tried to yank them free from the restrains above his head. None of the others around him could help him... Donnie flinched at the unpleasant memory. And then there was that ticking. What did that mean? Time had been placed around all their necks... but they all lived on a different time table... Time was running out for him, but how?

Tick tock tick tock - "Donnie! Don are you alright?" Leo brought him back tenderly brushing his cheek. He wasn't just shaking from the cold any more. How was he going to explain all of this to them, and about the... _others._...wait! There were... others! There were other prisoners like him.

"Oh god! I left them behind!?" Donnie jumped so suddenly he almost splashed his brother with water in the face. They both looked at him quite alarmed. "There were others there... _not_ all of them human..."

"What do you mean NOT human Donnie?" Leo jumped on the statement.

"Not all the time...I...I had to leave them behind!" He looked at his father with desperation, pleading for forgiveness. His eyes started to sting with shameful tears. "I wasn't thinking... Something happened, _they_ chased me... I saw the junk yard. I knew I could hide in there..." Despite the pain Don pulled his knees up to his chest as some unsettling images started flooding back into his brain, his breathing becoming short and shallow. "I just told myself to run." he sobbed.

"Please Donatello be calm. You did the right thing," Splinter shushed trying to sooth him. "I would rather you have found a way back than have turned up beyond our aid," he assured his child, but Splinter could tell the lack of facts was giving Don little comfort.

"He's right Donnie. If you could have saved anyone, you would have..." Leo added. He wasn't used to seeing his most logical and level head brother so devastated. The leader looked at the bruising around his wrist and ankles where he must have been bound. What horror had his brother seen to render him so scared, almost like a child? "Don you said 'they.' _They_ chased you... Did you know them? Was anyone familiar?"

Donnie shook his head. They had rather a large selection of enemies to choose from, but there were many blank spots in Donnie's memory, no suspects seemed to be jumping out to him. "I knew there were more...but I only remember _that_ face..." Donnie closed his eyes repressing another sob. "I only remember _him!_ Donnie trailed off as a headache started to push forth from the back of his brain. "I'm sorry... I can't remember any more right now."

Splinter and Leo exchanged a look of concern. Disappointedly Leo sighed as he rubbed Donnie's shoulder in a vague attempt to console him. His other siblings waiting in the kitchen were not going to take this well.

"It is quite alright. You have bruising on your head." Splinter said a little too understandingly. "Perhaps your memories shall return to you later, once you have rested." Donnie nodded, but a part of him hoped they wouldn't. There was one thing the clever turtle could remember. Not a memory as such, more a feeling... that feeling was pure fear. Fear that he had never felt before. With all he and his brothers had seen and done, this was something he had never expected. Was that why he couldn't remember everything? Was he repressing this black hole in his mind, or was there some chemical in his system helping him with that? Either way he would find out later.

As a scientist he had never been one to think about the existence of things like 'miracles'... but his escape had surely been one!

Overall Donnie was just too exhausted. The turtle's body becoming numb and prune from the long period of sitting under water spray, which was now sending cold shivers up his spine. Leo noticed and with the help of Sensei they grabbed each arm as Donnie struggled but managed to get out the bathtub to be wrapped in a long cosy towel by his father. The furry hands on his back and head left the third-youngest to sink into his embrace. Splinter took a moment enjoying the hug as the father thought that he would never have this chance again. Then Leo placed his arm around his brother, gently coaxing him away to start walking in the direction of his bedroom.

Donnie moaned having lost his warmth, but his big brother smooth tone whispering about his bed gave the purple sibling some strength to take a step leading up to the second floor. Raph and Mikey watched from the side lines knowing that their help was futile at the moment. Sure they could have carried Donnie up to his room, or even asked how he was doing once they saw their lifeless brother being pressed against Leo's side slowly ambling across the living room. They both turned to Splinter who smiled slightly, but his ears gave it away as they started to descend against his face.

"Donatello will be alright…at least physically. Please come to join me in the dojo once Leonardo has returned. There are things we must discuss." Straightening his posture Splinter strolled to his sanctuary where all his prays occupied the space. He hoped that a few more will be answered. The rat sighed rubbing his face allowing just a few seconds to let his guard down. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes while listening to his sons mumbling. When Leo had returned they entered the dojo, sitting in the cross-legged positions. _"Stay calm, don't lose control"_ Splinter reminded himself everyday when his boys ventured outside into the open air of Manhattan. The anxiety of not knowing if his children were safe or injured struck the rat to constantly meditate for hours. And now his smart child had not only been captured but came back with broken memories of his disappearance, wounds of torture but much deeper ones emotionally. What had happen to him left more questions than answers.

Splinter opened his eyes looking at each of them. Leonardo staring straight ahead, Raphael's fists clenched in his lap, his face towards the right. And Michelangelo always had a difficult time keeping still, quietly tapping his fingers. Although his sons had white eyes due to the mask Michelangelo was openly expressive. The worry on his face never wanting to be hidden, which was one of Michelangelo strengths, never been afraid to show how he really felt.

"Donatello still has much to reveal of what he can remember, but I called you all in here now because Leonardo and I have gained some small insight as to what might have happened to him." This perked up his red and orange son. "What did Donnie say Sensei?" Raph leaned forward a little more with Mikey copying him.

"Donatello remembers a human male face. A face that I am sure is going to bring him many nightmares. And that there were _others_ captured there along with him. However there was something he said about them not all been humans... Other species perhaps? Mutants maybe or aliens... At this stage we can only guess." As expected this caused an instantly round of questions to fire.

"If Donnie memory is right, _someone_ is going around kidnapping mutants!" Leo not been able to hold back. The look of disgust was evident. The question of who and how could someone have the ways and means of doing this is massive! Mutants or whatever they are not the easiest to contain...But bigger question is _why?"_

The rat silenced them with his hand before they could all start. "My sons I know this is a new and worrying discovery, but still many questions must be answered and that won't be until Donatello is fully rested. We will have to wait."

"But we have to find them! We have to find out what they did to him and if there are others, we can't just leave them!" The younger spat angrily.

His father raised a brow. "And how do you suppose we do that Michelangelo?" Mikey fell silent. After a moment his head fell crestfallen as no spontaneous ideas came to mind. Splinter sigh and reached for his cane to help him to stand... Old age had most certainly crept up on him in the last few days. He sauntered over to his youngest son placing a hand under his chin.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to sound so negative Michelangelo. You are concerned about your brother, I understand. But Donatello is the only one who has the answers...even if he doesn't remember everything right now." He sigh as he prepared himself for his next words. "What we must also consider is that if Donatello escaped, whoever did this may still be searching to recapture him." Splinter didn't miss the look in each of their eyes at that. The room may have been silent, but the protest from each of them was deafening! Now came the warning. "This maybe a new threat to us, or one we have faced before... but until we know the motives, I do not want any of you at risk. In the mean time we must find a way of keeping Donatello safe and help him through his ordeal." He removed his hand looking at his two oldest. "I understand how frustrating it has been and to remain patient is harder still when you want to keep everyone protected. But for now all we can do is remain calm by whichever manner you desire." Originally Splinter was going to tell them to start meditating, but looking at how his red clad child's teeth were grinding, and the fact that he had not said a word as of yet was not a good sign. "Dismissed"

The brothers snapped to attention at their father's formal address and all bowed along as they stood from the floor. Raph however had his hands balled and shaking as he tried to contain the anger bubbling in the pit of his stomach. As they made their way to the door, Leonardo stopped after his brothers had left.

"Sensei" He said so quietly that it was lucky the rat had good ears. "We will find out who did this to Donnie, and we will do our best to protect him and the others. I promise."

Splinter looked up at him. He recognised that hostile posture. How tightly he was holding the door frame as though he was holding onto his last bit of self-control. The old rat had been watching his family fall apart over this last week. A part of Splinter wished he could have spoken to Donatello alone first... Now Leo was automatically trying to shoulder all the responsibility for a situation they felt sure was just starting. But he had needed help lifting and moving his son around the bathroom and Leonardo had been the better choice at the time. Michelangelo wouldn't have been able to hold back his emotions at seeing his brother in such a state... And Raph would have become too angry at whoever was behind this, quickly becoming frustrated towards his injured brother for the lack of information… His strongest son's anger currently radiating from him was better in the direction of the worn-out punching bag.

"I know you will do everything you can, but please remember Leonardo that anger and revenge will overtake your control and only leave devastation in its wake... Stay level-headed and objective. There may be forces working here that we do not yet understand." the old rat master said with an edge of warning to his tone.

The blue turtle nodded turning to leave. "I promise." He repeated. Leo slid the door closed before making his way to the upper levels. At least Donnie was home now. His resourceful brother had found away to escape... But he couldn't get over the look in Don's eyes has he talked about the others he had left behind. Leo knew his brother. Donnie would never have left anyone if he had had a choice. But who's to say who these _'others'_ were? Were they really in trouble? The Hamato clan were normally the targets, but was this particular situation bigger than them? Should the leader be concern more about these others and what was going on, or just be happy that his brother was home? Leo shook his head dismissing that thought. The situation Don had faced was so terrible that he was forced to either fight and die or flight and rescue later scenario. That was always a hard one... but he was glad that Donnie had made the right decision, even if it was killing him now... They had to find out what was going on. Don wasn't going to let this rest, neither should they just as long as his brothers were not in any danger.

As he reached the upper floors, he could hear Mikey munching on his snacks while watching the TV. Raphael of course was swing kicking his bag. He didn't stop them. This was there routine. Their defence mechanism and way of calming down when the situation was… _perturb._

At first Leo was going to go and sit and watch over his injured brother, but decided against it. Donatello was out before his head hit the pillow... He would leave him to sleep for a while before he had to get up and face all of this again. Leo sighed and instead went to go and make himself some tea and meditate. At least he could sleep a bit easier tonight and not worry if his brother was dead or alive.

If only Leo had listened to his instincts. Had he have known, he would have rushed to his purple clad brother's room. He would have seen the drops of sweat glistening down his forehead. His hands gripping the quilt until his fingers throbbed. Gasping has a deep burning heat inside his body quickly spread through his veins until he couldn't breathe. What was happening to him? Donnie was asleep but his eyes were wide open in fear as the horrendous images played over and over.

"No! Stop!" Donnie mumbled unable to call out any louder. His sore hand's fending off the unknown attacker in the darkness. He then turned in his bed and to his horror, he saw the other bound next to him. He knew his eyes were blue, like his brother Mikey. Maybe that was why he found comfort watching over him, but he didn't even know his name. Donnie focused on him as he couldn't stand to look at the others. It was too painful. The man would hit them when they started to cry. They all cried. The floor they stood on seemed to sway and bend... or was that the drugs? He didn't know. But the other was closest to the large double doors that kept them in there... Freedom so close and yet so far!

The frame of the door had a reflective surface. The other was watching his own reflection, and Donnie knew behind the gag that went all the way down their throats, the other was silently screaming watching himself! "I'm so sorry, so so sorry..." was all Don could think and even prayed that the kid would soon not feel any more.

Everything was going by so fast when suddenly all became to an abrupt stop! The double doors flew open and the cold night air bit him, but it didn't help the burning spreading under his green skin... Then figures in black suddenly appeared. There was so many of them and they were holding a new person bound between them... This time it was a human woman.

"Put this one at the back. I will get to her in a moment." The dead white face and black round mirrored eyes ordered.

Donnie choked. It was the chain around his neck chocking him... and it was ticking! Donnie looked down at the clock around his neck... Time was running out and his body was getting hotter with every second that passed. There was noise of humming of an engine coming from outside, together with a loud cringing white-noise drowning out the screaming. All mixed together as another person was strung up at his other side. It was unbearable. Donnie would never forget her voice as long as he lived... The new victim was begging for her life. Confused as to why she was here. But she would soon learn why and she would sooner learn to be quiet. They were all quiet in the end. They were just ghosts now.

Tick-tock, Tick-tock. The clock would soon stop...


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone! I'm are really sorry for the almost 2 months delay!**

 **Unfortunately for me life took a turn especially in December (nothing bad) so give a thanks to Glazier Blue and XxTurtleTracerxX for the wonderful help in this chapter.**

* * *

Throughout the night time fazed in and out for Don, he kept waking up in a terrified haze of fuzzed images of a cramped prison... or his limbs strapped to a table... and once, somewhere along the way, the blurred remnants of a dream where he was chained to a hard surface that had become the norm. While now the softness of his sheets had become disorientating. It took till the fourth time of him waking up in a cold sweat before Donnie remembered he was home, and didn't forget. Not that the new vague conception of safety was enough to let him sleep in peace. The constant question of _how_ he escaped was forever on his mind as he was sure that the answer would lead back to the location. However the tiredness he battled with kept winning out, leading to a troubled rest.

Every time he woke up each breath reminded him that he was in pain. It made him want to cry out, but it was like the rest of him wasn't responding as it should. The burning sensation was back, starting from his leg, making it itch... He should really go and run some blood tests on that, but he was too lost in his nightmares to think so rationally for long. Instead he had a sudden instinct to hold his arms protectively over his chest against some invisible knife coming towards him... not a knife, a _scalpel_... A cool shiver prickled around his neck at that as he remembered a cold metal coming towards him... but there was nothing to block. Once the terrifying sensation had passed, he once again allowed himself to fall back onto his shell and return to sleep mode.

It wasn't until he felt fingers brush over his forehead did Don disregard his pain and almost jumped out of bed to defend himself against his attacker with a right hook to the head... he didn't get very far and was rewarded with almost falling off his mattress... This proved a bad idea when his side responded by offering a feeling equivalent to a hot iron pressed to his skin.

"My son!" To Donnie's embarrassing joy it was Master Splinter... To be more precise, it was Master Splinter looking rather alarmed as he easily blocked and was now holding his son's automatic reflex tightly between his fingers. "Be calm Donatello it is just me." Splinter reassured firmly.

"Sensei! I'm sorry... so sorry... Bad dreams." Donnie instantly pulled back trying to play down his miner heart attack with an embarrassed grin. "Did I sleep in? Have I missed training?"

Splinter just chuckled. As if he was going to let Donatello any further than his bed today. _Bless him._

He brushed his fingers along Donnie's cheek affectionately. Keeping skin contact the whole time the rat master moved his furred hand up to Donnie's forehead as though checking for a fever. He hadn't failed to notice the sweat on his son's face.

"It is alright Donatello. You will not be participating in practice until you have fully recovered... The others are just about to have breakfast. I volunteered to come and wake you. I wanted to speak to you alone before we face the others. As you can understand even now they are rather beside themselves with worry."

Translation, _Get ready for a rousting round of questions._ The turtle moaned silently.

The old rat's kind smile stayed, but his eyes turned serious.

Donnie pulled himself up right before leaning back against the wall trying to look relaxed. "Sure Sensei what did you want to talk about?"

The rat kept his gaze steady, thinking of a way to approach the topic without sounding, as his turtle children call it 'sappy', which he knew he was known for. But Splinter also knew that Donatello could be very stubborn when it came to keeping his emotions locked away, unlike his brothers, to get his third youngest to open up took small steps. But Donatello was scared right now, and his fear was probably greatly deserved. He had never seen his third youngest like this before. This new fear was true and real, no matter how much his son tried to brush it off.

"First please tell me how are you feeling?" The father's furry face remained neutral, but it stung like a wasp as he watch Donatello trying to cover up an expression he could only describe as startled. The rat questioned himself as to why his third son should be surprised that his dad asked him such a question? Splinter hoped it didn't steam form any form of negligence on his part. Yes Donatello was the son that he had one on one heart to hearts with the least. However that is only because it never seemed like the boy needed it as much as his other brothers did. _'A major mistake on my part'_ He thought while watching his child fiddle with his fingers. A habit of nervousness Splinter had picked up years ago.

Donnie himself would rather keep quiet than explain the on-going nightmares that constantly plague his mind. However seeing his father sitting opposite on the bed with an aura of patience and truly wanting to understand what was travelling through his intelligent thoughts, how could Donnie say no? Plus they were having a father and son moment (despite the situation they were in) it was kind of rare for the turtle.

"Physically I think I will heal... Emotionally... I think that's going to take a bit longer." He paused knowing full well that his father was way ahead of him and just waiting for him to admit it, better to him than his brothers. "Honestly... I'm…I'm scared Sensei. Not for myself... I got away. More for the others... It's just these nightmares or memories are like a puzzle swirling around in my head. I keep trying to grab the pieces and put them in the right place, but I only seem to capture the wrong piece, then it all just falls apart and I have to start again… Does that makes sense?"

Splinter nodded his head sympathetically while listening. Donnie rubbed his forehead trying to ground himself. "The pictures are not exactly clear either. Everything is just so blurry. If I could just memorize things long enough to organize them…" He cut himself off.

"Then what my son?" Splinter encouraged him to continue.

"Apart of me doesn't want to remember." The young turtle confessed. Shivers attacked his spine remembering the distorted voice of that particular man... The bone chilling screams of the other humans... humans that _transformed_ to mutants not long after they were dragged in off the street.

"Ohmygod!" Donnie knew what that man was doing! What his objective was, or at least he had a theory that made some sense. He still couldn't remember a motive, but the repetition of repeated forced transformations played out like a movie scene in his head before it faded into fog.

Sensing his son's growing stress Splinter quickly placed a calming hand on his shoulder, slowly massaging the sore pressure points along the back of his neck, a move that always seemed to calm them as children.

"My son, please remember you are not alone. You must not carry all this tension by yourself, but find a way to release the trauma. Then the answers you seek will come back to you... A shadow is over you..."He said gravely. "But I have faith that all will be well by the end."

Donnie's eyes swelled up at the sound and sight his father's gentle tone and assuring warm features. "Thank you Sensei," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around Splinter's kimono. Comfort and safety radiated off his dad, giving the genius a sense of protection…Now if only he could tell his brilliant mind to stop ticking... _like a time bomb!_

"There is something else sensei... It doesn't make much sense but... I keep hearing a clock. A ticking... in my head... I mean I think it's just a repercussion of all the psychological stress I have been under… After all I could hear a clock ticking every day when I was in my prison, but... but its driving me crazy. " Donatello furiously rubbed his temples, not at all noticing the frown appear across Splinter's face as he recalled what Donatello mentioned in the bathtub last night. Unfortunately at the time Donnie was too incoherent to explain the persistent sound drowning out all other tunes. " _More questions to seek answers for later,_ " Splinter thought irritably. For now his purple son came first. More worry grew as he watched his turtle rub even more aggressively at his head as though trying to manually remove the bad dreams out of his brain.

"Donatello."

His debate of sanity was again interrupted by his father's concerned voice. Pushing back the growing headache he stopped and looked up. "Yes sensei?" He watched his father stand, ignoring the popping of the rat's knees.

"Why don't we join your brothers for breakfast? I believe that Michelangelo is cooking up a small feast considering we couldn't feed you yesterday." At the word _breakfast_ Donnie had to repress the sudden urge to jump out of bed and run to the kitchen. Gosh he _was_ hungry! He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. Donnie blushed slightly as he sniffed the good food smelling air. He knew that his little brother showed his love for them by cooking, and Don was convinced that it was one of Mikey's best qualities. "Afterwards would you like to come to the dojo with me for some meditation? It may help your mind recover?" Splinter was actually praying that he would say yes, knowing full well Donatello would rather spend his misery in isolation. His heart fluttered when the purple genius smiled, showing he was happy to join his father in his activities.

* * *

Meanwhile down stairs Mikey was doing what Mikey always did best when he was excited and keen to please. Cooking the best damn breakfast his brother would ever have. For that he decided to do what they did across the pond. _A British Breakfast!_ Eggs, bacon, mushrooms, and beans with toast were all on the Hamato menu. He was quite sure whoever had kept Donnie trapped that he had not fed him properly. It was bad enough that his brother had just been minding his own business when he had been snatched off the street, but to top it all off those bozos hadn't even taken the time to feed him or his coffee addiction. That was just rude.

"I take it from your pathological compulsion to cook a lot this morning that is all for Donnie right?" A somewhat calmer Leo than the past week sat at the table watching the amount of food on it grow.

"Well ya' of course." Mikey answered flipping the bacon. "Donnie needs fattening up most of the time, but I don't think those crazy creeps who took him let him order take out while he was their guest!?" The orange turtle could almost spread his sarcasm on the toast while rolling his eyes at the injustice of the world. "Oh idea! Maybe I should start making up pack lunches. So when we are turtle-napped, we won't go hungry right away." He said now setting the plates.

Leo couldn't help but chuckle, not just at the image of sitting in some cell awaiting some terrible fate while taking the time to take out a lunch box, but the fact that Mikey was actually being serious. Not that being turtle-napped was an option! It just seemed to keep happening... Either way it felt nice to smile again. Of course not all the turtles cared to bask in this rare moment of relief. The grim cloud with a red mask soon walked in after finishing his cool down session in the dojo. The angry one sat at the table, grabbing two slices of hot toast.

"Is Donnie up yet?" Raph muttered impatiently.

"Father went to wake him. He won't be long... Please remember though Raph, father said we could ask him questions but don't pressure him into a full on interrogation. He's been through enough."

"You don't need to remind me Splinter junior. I was there when he said it," he snapped flippantly. "I just wanted to know if he's ok, that's all...? And what he remembers...? Who these people are...? What did they do? What do they want? How many were they? Are they still around? And how I can find them? … And how many piece's am I allowed to chop them into? … No pressure here!"

"Oh totally Raph, that's what I call taking it easy on the questions," Mikey rolled his eyes placing most of the fried up of eggs and bacon onto Donnie's plate before sharing out the rest. "But seriously Leo, Donnie _is_ ok right? I mean he did escape and manage to get back here, so it can't be anything we can't handle right?" Mikey asked in a cheerful tone that he had been practising all morning. Unfortunately his voice instantly betrayed him as the concern broke through.

And apparently the concern was contagious. Leo's brighter mask slipped a little as he remembered some of his brothers words in the bathtub. The look of terror on his face... he had never seen Donnie look so scared before... and not just the typical, _'bad situation, must think of something to fix it'_ scared... No this was completely defenceless fear, like a child's. Scared for your life scared. The blue clad turtle was lost between enragement, sadness, and of course his most common emotion, guilt. He didn't get a chance to answer his youngest brother's question, because at that moment Donnie and Splinter walked in.

"Oh hey! Morning Donnie. I made you breakfast!" The orange clad turtle practically sprinted across the room to greet them, moving in for a hug, but decided against it at the last moment because in his opinion Donnie was looking mighty fragile right now.

Donnie's eyes almost bulged at the sight of the food. "Oh wow... that's...that's really great Mikey. Thanks. You have no idea how hungry I am," the purple clad turtle moved towards the table as though the smell alone had grabbed him and dragged him there. Within the same moment of sitting down Donnie was wolfing down his meal without pause, thus confirming the younger brother's earlier statement that he had barely eaten for almost a week.

It wasn't surprising but the brothers couldn't help but glance at him while they ate. It was even more surprising to Splinter that his son's had managed to hold themselves back for as long as they had. He could tell that they were bursting to begin. Donnie's injuries were much more visible now that all the mud had been removed, and it was a challenge not to stare.

Mikey smiled as he watched his older brother chow down so excitedly. "You really missed my cooking eh Donnie?" The youngest said puffing out his chest proudly. "You know we have more right?" A bit more curiously when Don didn't respond but only continued eating like a stray dog. Practically licking the plate, soon Leo and Raph had ditched glancing for staring.

"Whoa there... don't forget to breathe Don!" Leo spoke up, but was only met with a slight grunt, or was it a growl? Seeing Donnie eat was a rare thing as 85% of the time he only lived on caffeine and adrenaline, but what really made them all gasp was when he reached passed his fresh cup of coffee for the water jug. Not bothering to use a glass, instead the smart turtle just chugged it down. At that even Splinter looked up. Almost all of the water was gone in 10 seconds!

"Ok bro take it easy," Raph said now legitimately concerned, he leaned forward with the intent of taking the glass jug from his brother's hand, but before he could grab the thing he was suddenly met with a dark look from Donnie. It only lasted a second, but there was definitely a flash of anger there... it made the red clad turtle stop, as he didn't recognize that kind of anger in his normally passive and sweet brother... For a second he was sure Don was about to... _attack_ him? But the seconds passed and the purple turtle just smiled warmly again giving the pot over willingly.

"Sorry... just really dehydrated I guess," he chuckled nervously like the look had never happened. Raph didn't say anything and no one else seemed to have noticed it. At least they didn't say anything. Guess Donnie really had been through a lot and was still on edge.

"Hey what time is it?" Donnie asked and suddenly looked up at the clock as though he had forgotten something.

"9:30...why? ya' running late or something?" Raph followed his brother's gaze to the wall clock, glancing curiously.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering how long I have?"

"...mmm you have all day bro," Mikey said looking sideways at his two brothers a little nervously.

"Things seem to be a bit strange Don, why don't you walk us through that?" Leo tried prodding. He remembered how his brother seemed to be focused on the time late last night. Perhaps if he questioned him now while his thoughts were on the clock he could get some information.

But Don just smiled dismissing it all with his hand. "I was a bit worried last night, but I really do think I'm fine."

The brothers glanced at one another again before looking back at him. "Donnie..." Raph started, being very careful to keep his voice calm. "Do... do you remember much about where you were? Or how you escaped?" He asked ignoring Leo's and Splinter's warning look.

Donnie finished his plate before he responded. His look was unsure. "I remember there were some army type men in black who dragged me off... I am sure they were armed, not that I remember... Stun guns for sure... They seemed to come out of know where. But I don't remember how I escaped them. Everything went by so fast... I just remember running... But the ground was moving with me! To fast... I couldn't stand up right," Don rubbed his neck, remembering the gag that fed all the way down his throat. "Once we were bound he muzzled us." That caused an odd look from the others.

"What do you mean a muzzled? Like you put on a dog?"

"Almost... He had us all wearing a head brace muzzle type thing to stop us from calling out... But there was a pipe attached to the inside of it that fed all the way down our throats. It was a force feeding tube. He could undo the front of the muzzle without releasing it and feed us some fluids to keep us going... But other times it was liquid from a syringe. Don't know what it was, but it kept us awake the entire time. Which explains why I was so disorientated... Must have been some kind of stimulant ... And he used a lot of different syringes... and scalpels too.

"Jeeze Donnie, were you kidnapped by that guy in SAW?" Mikey awed in horror, trying to gulp down the lump in his throat.

"Wait!" Leo interrupted. "What you're describing, it sounds like experimentation on mutants!?" Leo had to stop himself from shouting, pushing passed the horrible image his brother was painting.

"I think so... For what purpose I don't know. I think they thought I was a human already mutated," Donnie said his voice light as his mind started to drift back to his captivity. "There were other mutants there... but... but they _didn't_ all start off that way." Donnie rubbed his eyes trying to push away the headache that was growing. He still had so much to go through. The force of his memories that came back to him when speaking openly was remarkable.

Taking a deep breath, Donnie told his brothers and father all he remembered, from the green blinking light scanning over him, to the giant syringes. The screaming of the others around him. The younger teen hanging up next to him... The look of the Doctor looming over him with the black goggles. The armed men around him who kept on bringing more subjects into the ready-made lab.

By the time the smart turtle had finished Mikey looked like he wanted to be sick, whereas Raph was looking like he wanted to turn the table over, Leo settled on finding a blank spot on the floor just for him, and preceded to look at it with grim determination. Splinter just looked sad.

When his son's had been small this had always been a fear of his, that his boys would be captured and exposed to this even darker side of the world above. But there were more pressing questions, such as what had this man been looking for? What experiments had he done and why?

Seeing the marks on Don last night, they had assumed that it was just samples taken from him... See what made a mutant a mutant? Realising that something had been _put in_ however, changed things.

"Why didn't you say you were injected with something last night?" Leo asked, almost jumping up from the table at the implications.

"I wasn't really with reality last night Leo. But nothing has affected me as of yet, apart from a little stress disorder. Health wise I'm not really too worried..." Don lied. "It's been over 24 hours... If something was going to happen to me, it should have by now."

Tick tock, tick tock... _"What is with that dam clock?!"_ Donnie thought rubbing his head again.

"How can you say that if you don't even know what it was?" Raph added. Don couldn't answer.

"Donnie, I would like LH to check you out, and April to run some tests?" Leo suggested rather urgently... It wasn't really a suggestion. The words _mutants_ and experiments had instantly set off BIG red flash warning signs, complete with deafening alarm bells!

"Leo you don't need to call and worry them. I can run some blood tests on myself. I would rather deal with this until I know what he was trying to do... Really guys I'm probably fine. I think his experiments failed because apart from feeling like I was hit by...by...by a... truck...I am ok. Our mutated blood has healing cells faster than humans after all... I'm very likely able to fight anything he did give me off. I won't know until I get to the lab," A dizzy spell came over Don as he spoke, his brother's noticed, which didn't at all help his case that he was fine.

"I'm not taking that chance Don. We don't know if you are alright. Looks alone, you look freaking terrible!" Leo stated matter of factly. "We thought the marks on your arms were just from taking blood. If we had known about the experiments last night we would have called them then." Leo sighed, frustrated with himself. "April can be here in an hour. We need to know what they were trying to do and you're not well enough to do anything other than rest. Is that clear!" Leo could almost see Don leafing through the encyclopaedia that was his brain to try and find anything that might refute his claim.

"Leo I can do -"

"That's an order Donnie!" The leader with his leader tone cut him off. "You're getting checked out and you are going to rest until then and we know what we are dealing with. No lab... NO computer until then." He left no room for argument, and by the faces in the room, everyone else was backing him up.

Cornered Donnie sighed in defeat. He knew it was pointless to argue. "Fine, I'll just get my blood ready for April to look over when she gets here. Ok?"

"And LH to come and check you over!" Raph reminded. It was a rare day that he finds himself in 100% agreement with his blue brother, but there really wasn't much to fight about when it came to protecting their younger siblings.

Donnie groaned. "Look I just want to stop this guy and save the others that were there with me... It's bad enough I left them behind. If I can remember where this place was then-"

"I know you want to help them Donatello, as do we. But you must place your own health first, at least for now. You can't help anyone until you remember and to remember, you need to heal," Splinter said, expertly interrupting the guilt ridden train of thought his son tried to follow.

The constant voice of logic chiming in from his father suddenly didn't seem to have the calming effect that it always did. Donnie wanted to object. He wanted to yell and storm around the kitchen yelling at them... Did they not realise he was running out of time...ticking... more ticking... losing time...He had to find the others before it was too late. He could feel his blood starting to boil... only to question himself _why?_ Why was he so angry? Why was he panicking? He was safe now at home... They were only trying to take care of him... Unless...unless he listened to his gut that was saying something WAS wrong! Very very wrong! It took a few deep breaths, but hopefully he had covered up that flash of anger with a defining nod.

"I know your frustrated my son -" Splinter continued.

"No – no you're right. We need to know what we are dealing with before we go charging ahead. I'm being stupid...I'll go get started on the blood samples for April and LH to look at," Donnie sat a moment longer, just thinking, before nodding calmly and making a quick exit from the kitchen before anyone else could say something.

Once he was gone Splinter excused himself as well, leaving the brothers with just as many questions as before... New questions which were much more disturbing.

Mikey in particular had been uncharacteristically quiet since Don had started talking. They faced so many enemies trying to kill them but this!? Being on a dissection table was his worse fear, but what really got to him was the idea of them being treated like an animal...A mindless monster with no feelings. They weren't monsters! Even animals don't deserve to be treated like that. And apparently these guys were doing it to humans to! Which means these sickos didn't even have the excuse of a self-convinced delusion that mutants are just dumb monsters or something. How could anyone be so cold? Donnie's description of a mad doctor type was most definitely something out of a horror movie.

"Is someone going to explain to me what the shell that was?!" Raph sudden statement snapped Mikey out of this depressing train of thought.

"What?" The other two asked.

"Didn't you see that? When I took the jug from him, and just then? I thought I was going to have to restrain him from attacking you Leo...Donnie... he's different!" The red clad turtle stated.

"Well yeah... He's hardly likely to be all kittens and rainbows after all of that Raph!" Mikey said, taking somewhat of a protective guard over their genius.

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about HIM. He's different... I can't quite put my finger on it but, something is up... What if they _did_ do something to him? The experiments I mean, and we just don't know it yet?" He looked to his leader. "I'm ok with assumin' the worst here. It's better than being caught off guard."

Leo frowned with that look he always had when he was thinking hard as he tried to come up with something that would serve as a possibility to Raph's valid observations. "Well that's why we need April and LH here ASAP, so they can find out what it is," he responded simply. Without saying a another word Raph could tell that he and Leo were on the same page, but it was too soon to start reacting just yet.

Raph stifled a sigh. The images Donnie had painted, along with the gut feeling that something was amiss, angered and terrified Raph out of his shell... No! He couldn't let this sense of powerlessness get the better of him. He had to do something! Preferably anything that fell in the area of preventing further harm to Don. Just until they all knew what was going on. Well there was just one place to start. Raph stood up and made to make his way out of the kitchen when Leo stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"To make sure the Brainiac follows _your_ orders to relax and doesn't start playing around in the lab until LH gets here," Raph had practiced the line in his head before saying it, and it came out completely believably. He was fairly confident that if he was doing something that Fearless had instructed his brother wouldn't stand in his way. He was right. Leo raised one eye ridge at him before taking his hand away.

"Ok. Just don't hurt him. It's too late to slip him some of sensei's herbs ... Just let me know if he puts up a fight."

The big brothers chuckled at that because it wouldn't be the first time they have had to drag the genius away from his computer, usually after a three day and night internet binge. It wasn't their fault, if he wasn't going to listen what else could a brother do?

"Just be nice to him Raph," Mikey added catching sight of Raphael walking towards the lab.

"Kitten gloves. Got it!" The red clad turtle promised himself.

If Raph had wanted to catch Donnie possibly sneaking extra work he should have waited longer. He found the smart turtle sitting at his desk inserting a syringe into his arm withdrawing blood. Raphael always did have to admire that about Don. If he had spent a week being prodded like a pin cushion he was sure he would have a bit of a problem even just taking blood. But logical Donnie knew it needed to be done and took it all in his stride.

The red turtle stayed quiet by the door watching him fill up the tube with the crimson liquid before placing it in that strange machine that made it spin around really fast. Donnie hadn't realized his brother was even there yet. They both seemed to be lost in their own troubling thoughts, while listening to the humming of the machine... Then Raph noticed that his little brother was rubbing his head, clearly showing the pain he had been hiding all morning.

"I think it's time you took that break now Don," The red clad turtle said, announcing his arrival and making Donnie almost jump out of his seat.

"Geez Raph! How long have _you_ been there?" The purple clad turtle asked, he couldn't hide the surprise mixed with irritation, and again he gave Raph the same cold look he had given Leo before. "Oh don't tell me. Leo's sent you to march me from the lab like a naughty child! What then? What you going to do, throw me over your shoulder and lock me in my room?

"I'm considering doing just that if you don't calm down Donnie boy," Raph smirked crossing his arms while leaning against the side of the door frame in his classic defensive pose.

But a bad mood seemed to be brewing within the genius. Don narrowed his eyes at him. "I thought you of all of us would get where I am coming from _Raph!?"_ Placing some extra venom on his name. _"_ Despite what you all think, I'm NOT useless! Why can't you all just back the HELL off!?" He yelled above what was considered the usual Donatello range.

"Hey there brainiac take it easy! I _do_ get you... but I'm the only one who's allowed to shout around here," He said jokingly. When that didn't work however, he just sighed. The hot head recognized that spark of anger. It was one he himself had regularly. So this is what it was like being on the receiving end? It would be very easy to start an argument right now, but Raph was determined not too. He understood why his smart brother was mad. Donnie was feeling helpless even _more_ than they were. No. Raph _could_ handle this without it getting rough. Don had being through enough already.

"Come on D, don't be like that... You were gone for 5 days. You scared the shell out of them!" He made sure to lie and say ' _them'_ instead of ' _us.'_ "You of all of us should know experimentation isn't nothing, whether you beat it or not... How would you be if this had happened to one of us instead of you?"

Raph couldn't believe it. Was Hamato Raphael pep-talking his brother? He _really_ couldn't believe it of himself. Then again he has had enough of them from Splinter. After having to listen to so many he better be at least good at parroting the things, and to his surprise it _did_ seem to work. Donnie's shoulders slumped and his face softened slightly. "I know... I know it's just..." the turtle cut himself off, turning back to his desk instead and placing his face in his hands breathing deeply.

"It's just what Donnie?" Raph asked curiously looking at him. It wasn't like the brainiac to not finish what he was saying, but when no more words seemed to be forthcoming Raph migrated towards him in anticipation. It wasn't until Raph was behind Donnie did he realise that his brother was... _crying?_

Hamato Donatello was crying? He hadn't seen Donnie cry since they were kids... Oh crud! What was the hot head meant to do now? He wasn't good at this kind of support. He would beat his way through an army of ninjas to protect his family ... but seeing them break down, that was Mikey's area. Leo in emergencies, not him!

"Just go away Raph... I don't want you to see me like this," Donnie mumbled out in between his fingers, desperately trying to silence the sobs.

Oh hell no... Raph wasn't going anywhere now.

Crud crud crud! One short pep talk and the tears started... Had Raph missed his calling or what? What was worse the little brother had somehow instantly turned the self-proclaimed hard-ass into mush? Instead of leaving Raph put one arm around Donnie's shell pulling him to lean onto his shoulder into an awkward hug.

"Hey D I said its ok... Come on bro, you know I am no good at all the touchy feely stuff."

"I don't...I don't know what's...wrong with- with me Raphie," the turtle continued to sob. "I'm just feeling so... so angry... like...like something in me burning... and it's just going to explode any second now! What did they do to me Raph? …. am so... am so,... scared!"

The awkwardness instantly died right there. Raphael turned wrapping both his arms around him, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I'm not going to let anything else bad happen to you. None of us will. Not now, not ever again," He stated defiantly. Resting his chin on the top of Donnie's head, he could feel him shaking.

"Hey come on bro, cheer up, we are going to deal with this like we always do," Raph said, he really was trying to be reassuring... but this time it didn't seem to work. If anything Donnie was shaking more... but he couldn't hear him crying. "Don?" Raph pulled away to look at him. No Donnie _wasn't_ crying any more, but he didn't at all look well. "Donnie what's wrong?" Raph said suddenly feeling quite nervous, but the genius didn't answer. He was too busy trying to breathe!

Raph hadn't had a split second to think before Donnie's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, suddenly he was falling sideways off his chair. Thankfully his brother's arm was there to stop him before he hit the floor. Quickly Raph lowered him to the ground while trying to support his head. His raggy short breathing was terrifying and even though he had fallen limply, every ligament was convulsing violently. His color was gone! The area around his mouth had gone an paler shade, with a light blue tint to them... and his spine was trying to defy its shell by twisting back and forth... Donnie was having a seizure!

Raph not thinking or even caring how scared he sounded, screamed out desperately to his father, to his brothers. To anyone for help!

There was definitely more going on here than a stress disorder!


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey where back! Sorry guys but I don't have much time with fanfiction, so luckily you have two awesome writers who want to see this through!**

* * *

"Help! Leo, Sensei, someone get in here!" Raph yelled has he tried to support Donnie's head just off the floor. Color drained from Raph's face and he swallowed audibly... Only seconds had passed but the purple clad turtle was still twisting and shaking in a painful and uncontrolled seizure like episode. But this was different than a seizer. Raph had seen enough of them from sickly humans on patrol to know. For one thing Raph noted that Donnie's breathing was erratic, as though struggling to take one. Don was clutching at his throat... which he wouldn't really be able to do if he had lost control of his limbs – Oh no. Donnie _wasn't_ having a seizure... He was _CHOKING!_

What the heck was constricting his breathing? Raph tried to peer down into his brother's throat to have a look, but he couldn't see anything that could be causing him to turn from olive green to a green-blue.

Every chocked gag that escaped his brother brought a new wave of panic. All his rational thoughts leaked out of his head... quickly Raph flipped his brother onto his front so he was on all fours, in the hopes that Don would cough up whatever was choking him. Instantly the genius started to convulse. Donnie _was_ suffocating on something. "Come on Donnie, sick it up and breathe!" Raph encouraged his brother. He frantically patted between the shoulder-blades hoping to initiate a cough, which he immediately realised was pointless as his shell was in the way. "Crud! …. Donnie bloody breathe for me will ya!" His mind raced as the hot head desperately tried to remember what to do when something was constricting the air-ways? Donnie had showed them what to do in one of his strenuously long 'first-aid' classes... Wasn't the next step something to do with _locking his arms around below his ribs, thrusting against the gut... while standing behind them...?_ Would that work for turtles? "Crud crud crud!" He _knew_ this, he just couldn't remember right now... Why couldn't he think straight under pressure?! His brother was dying right here in front of him.

And why wasn't Leo and the others running in here by now!? Any type of distress call was normally an instant red light signal for the blue clad turtle to come running. Raph looked around to realise that the heavy metal doors had closed behind him on his way in. Don liked his privacy, and he didn't like to be disturbed when he was working with loud machinery. The doors were almost sound proof.

"Bloody SHELL!" Raph shouted. It did no good, Raph would have to yell at the top of his lungs in order to be heard.

"LEO, MIKEY GET YOUR SHELLS IN HERE NOW!"

Just as he was about to heave his brother up to start the abdominal thrusts, Donnie finally started to cough. A wave of relief showered over the big brother as he tried to get Don to lie in the recovery position instead, when suddenly the purple turtle vomited. Raph moved back shocked, not just because his brother was finally sick. It was _what_ he had been choking on that made Raph gasp. It looked like some kind of _black oil_ substance mixed with a little blood!

"What the shell-?!" Raph started but was cut off by a hand locking around his neck. In favour of choking, his smart brother was now attempting to crush his wind pipe instead. "Don what the -" but the look on his brother's face made every word on the red clad turtle's tongue instantly die, and not just because _he_ was the one now choking. Raph's eyes widened as he realised he wasn't currently looking into the face of his smart and passive brother he knew so well.

…

 _"Poor Donnie,"_ Mikey thought. When Leo and Master Splinter had gone to meditate in the dojo for the afternoon, the orange clad turtle had made a point of hiding out in the kitchen away from all the drama he was sure was about to happen. The hot head was going to try and do his best impression of being _'sensitive.'_ Yeah right.

The young turtle thought it best to keep out of the way, as he was fully expecting to hear his smart brother's voice any moment now, moaning as he was physically dragged off to bed. Besides the living room the kitchen was the next closest to the lab, but the thick stone walls between them and the heavy metal doors Donnie had installed didn't allow much noise to escape.

Instead of complaints though Mikey heard raised muffled shouts coming through the walls. Odd, but he was sure it was because Donnie was objecting to Raphael's suggestions about taking a break... Wait... no that sounded more like Raph. Why was Raph shouting? Typical. Donnie wasn't doing as he was told, so the hot head automatically reverted back to – No actually Raph sounded more panicked!? A panicked Raph either meant something was wrong, or Raph had done something wrong that he actually thought was wasn't a tone Mikey was used to hearing from him.

The young turtle debating the latter of his two options to go and check on them when -

 _"LEO MIKEY GET YOUR SHELLS IN HERE NOW!"_ Raph's sudden deafening scream made Mikey drop the plate he had being washing and run into the main living area of the lair. The yell had also alerted the dojo as Mikey almost collided with Leo and Splinter, who were simultaneously running out of the dojo. As the three reached the lab doors the muffled cries of terror from the closed off room were abruptly cut dead.

The sudden eerie silence that followed such a cry had the brother's freeze in place.

"Mmmm... What's going on?" Mikey said as though he had just walked into the scene of a jump-scare movie.

Splinter and his sixth sense also had alarm bells ringing. Raising his paw he warned his sons to proceed with caution.

"Raph what's going on in there? You two alright?" Leo's nervous energy thrummed through him, but no one answered. Leo had an urge to reach for his swords.

But as usual the orange clad turtle couldn't wait and quickly approached the lad doors. "Raph? Donnie? This is funny." But before he could touch the handle he was cut off by the doors suddenly bursting open, almost off its hinges as his red clad brother came _flying_ out. His shell bounced off a nearby stone pillar, before crumpling to the floor with a loud grunt.

"Raphie!" Mikey shouted, both Splinter's and his own concern had them running towards Raph, but the red wearing turtle was already up and backing away from the lab, weapons drawn. Raph had a look of absolute terror that seemed to cut off any explanation as to why he was just violently tossed across the room like a disregarded stuffed toy.

"Donnie... its D-Donnie, he's-" Raph spluttered. The bad-ass, strongest, and in Mikey's opinion, most fearless brother had indeed been rendered speechless by something terrifying.

"Raphael, what is happening?" But Splinter's confusion soon dissipated as his question was answered by the appearance of Donatello in the doorway. Upon first glance he didn't look any different. But Leo, being closest, suddenly gasped as he looked closer at Don. The face area was about two tones paler than the rest of his skin, with a coat of a thin sheen of sweat. His pupils were dilated to the point they looked almost black, and he had a serious case of blood shot eyes... They were positively blazing in what looked like rabid anger. They _weren't_ Donnie's eyes... In fact there didn't seem to be any trace of their brother there at all. But what was most unnerving was the red blood mixed with some kind of black bile staining his tongue and teeth. It was trickling down the side of his mouth and dripping down his neck. The same oil like substance was tearing from his eyes, staining his mask.

"Holy Chalooper! ...D..Donnie you don't look so good," Mikey stammered. The brothers stared in unison horror. Splinter however, remain quite still, as though studying the sight in front of him. The old rat's eyes were wide and his features fixed into an unreadable glare at his third youngest, and sweetest, son. The son who now looked back at them as though they were edible pray. Bearing his teeth and snarling like an animal was the most un-Donnie like thing they had ever seen in their lives.

"Holy shell raiser," Leo breathed, he was so shocked by what he was witnessing that everything else spiralled out of his brain. The only thing imperative was figuring out what was happening to his brother right now. His mental search however came up with a whole load of nothing. Leo hadn't even noticed that Donnie had shifted his gaze from red to blue, locking eyes with him. He was too dumbstruck to see his seriously sick brother taking an attack stance. He didn't hear Raph shout out a warning as the purple clad turtle leapt at him. The leader turtle only snapped out of his shock when he felt the old rat shove him to one side, just as the wild rabid turtle toppled on top of him, landing on their father instead.

Splinter was now on his back, trying to prevent his son from biting his face off. The old rat was having to use more strength than he has had to use in years. Donatello's black stained teeth were viciously chomping at his pointed nose. If he could just reach the pressure points on the side of his son's neck, but everything Splinter had was needed just to keep Donnie at bay as he clawed at his father's arms.

Thankfully the rat master didn't have to wait long as his eldest son was there, reaching down and snatching Donnie up from around the waste, hauling him back and away. Raph stepped between them, trying to pin Donnie's arms. The unrecognisable Donatello meanwhile, was trying to violently tear Raph's throat out with his own jaws. Instinctively the hot head punched Donnie across the face, attempting to knock him out.

"Raph don't hurt him!" Leo yelled struggling to hold his brother tightly around the shell.

"Are you kidding me?! I don't think he's feeling anything right now Leo!" Raph yelled back, punching Don again. But short of dazing the rabid mutant the strikes were just making him more ticked off. Snarls had turned into loud growls as the black spluttered from his mouth.

"It's ok Don, just calm down," Leo said trying to calm him, but Donnie didn't seem to be able to understand what he was saying.

"Sensei are you alright?" Mikey asked helping his father to his feet. The rat nodded while quickly stepping towards his two eldest sons sandwiching the ill brother between them.

"Raphael step aside," Splinter instructed urgently.

With Raph's help Leo had managed to get a grip on Donnie's wrists, securing them behind his shell. With the loss of his hands Donnie twisted his head back trying to take a bite out of Leo's face instead. This turtle was not only out of control, he was out of his mind. "Easy Don. Just take it easy," Leo attempts at keeping his own tone calm, but failing as his voice was shaking. Donnie only struggled harder. The blue clad turtle practically had to pick him up off the floor just to keep his grip on him. Whatever sensei was planning on doing Leo hoped he would do it fast.

As Splinter took Raph's place he quickly brought up his hands to Donnie's neck, looking for the right pressure points he needed to paralyze him, but he didn't apply any pressure yet. Instead the rat master's eyes locked with his sick son's before going into that strange hypnotic state they sometimes went into.

 _"My son hear my voice. I know you are in there. Come back to us,"_ Splinter reached deep into Donnie's infected and disturbed mind. His child was in there somewhere, and he would find him. Donnie heard his father's words but not from his mouth. Splinter called to him over and over, and soon they had the desired effect. Donnie's body started to slow, as though getting tired. His eyes were wide in a painful glare. All his struggles slipped away, and soon the smart turtle hung limp in his big brother's arms. "Donatello, can you hear me?!" The father said this time out loud.

..."Y- yeah," the young turtle whimpered. His breathing was now shallow, and the black poison still dripped from his mouth. The father brought a corner of his robes up to dab his son's lips, attempting to clean it away. The fact that Donnie had stopped trying to attack them did nothing to relieve the tension. "Donatello you must fight this. Do you hear me? Fight it," the father pleaded.

For Donnie blinking seemed suddenly hard, as all the images were swaying. The light in the room hurt his eyes. He willed himself not to pass out again. Then hopefully there would be no more rage. He looked over trying to depict Raph and Mikey's expressions. They looked positively terrified for him... or _of_ him...? Confusion drew his brows together as he couldn't see Leo... Oh he was still standing behind him, tightly holding him in case he attacked them again. Don was sure Leo's expression mirrored his other brothers. What had he just done?

"It's ok Donnie. Everything is going to be ok, I promise," he heard Leo whisper in his ear, and this time the words registered, which some how only made him feel worse... Mostly because they were wrong. He wasn't ok.

"No. Time is almost up," the words came out in a huge rush of air and Donnie had to gasp to re-fill his lungs.

…...

Donnie wasn't completely out of it, but visually the next few hours that followed were just a mix collision of black and red lights. It made his eyes hurt. He wasn't at all sure what was going on, but soon in the water storm of colors faces of the mad scientist, and a few others he didn't recognise, would come to the surface before vanishing back into the darkness. His memories were trying to break through, but he would rather ignore them right now and focus what was happening in the real world.

Though his eyes were closed he was still aware. He could hear his father talking to Leo and Raph just above him. They hadn't let him go as of yet. They must have thought that he had passed out again, but really everything just hurt too much to move. He didn't want to go to sleep and return to that terrifying place. Even now back in the safety of his home, he was so scared because any moment he knew he would be dragged back there, wherever there was... He didn't know how, but sooner or later he was going back there to that nightmare for real-

A sudden jolt and Donnie knew he was being carried, although someone was holding his legs tightly too. His big brothers certainly didn't miss an excuse to drag him around. Not at all big on dignity here... No. He waved that goodbye a while ago. Now he was laying on something soft. Had they really just tucked him back into bed? That didn't seem very safe considering what he had just tried to do...?! He had attacked his brothers. His father... He could have killed him?! And how or where had he found the energy to lift up Raph and throw him out of his lab like that? His red clad brother wasn't a light turtle. Where had that energy burst come from? All Donnie remembered about that was feeling mad that his brother was likely in his lab to pick him up and cart him around if he didn't do as he was told. Then he just remembered being upset, crying on his brother's shoulder... The anger flowed around his body as fast as his tears did down his face.

Last shard of dignity, gone.

He did remember thinking " _How would Raph like to be picked up like a rag doll..."_ Then he remembered feeling that everything had just gone crazy. All the anger had instantly consumed him. It was strange. He had felt a burning inside him rise to the surface, before coming up his throat. When that had happened he felt like he was... _dying._ Then his body had taken over. The rabid anger within had irrupted like a volcano, and although he could see what he was doing, it was only from far away... Like being out at sea fighting the waves to reach the shores. He knew his bodily control had left him, and that terrified him. Had it not been for his father's voice giving him something to latch onto like a life line he may have lost it all together.

'What was happening to him?' Donnie posed the question to himself, but he really didn't want to know the answer. What still bothered him more was that the burning rage was still there, inside him and fighting to keep it at bay. He was drowning in it!

The dull ache that had been amplified all the way through his body were now specified to certain spots on his being. Was it that vile black stuff that he had vomited up making him do this? Was that what had made him strong too? Donnie concluded that stuff must be the result of that concoction that mad man had forced into him. Had that been the intention all along, or was this a side effect to something else?

He wanted to analyse it, but he didn't have the energy for the lab right now. LH would have to do it, but that wouldn't help his guilt of attacking his family. Maybe passing out wouldn't be such a bad idea. He couldn't feel guilty if he was out cold.

But the moment Donnie decided to give into the blissful darkness, an image surfaced in his mind that was so terrifying it made him instantaneously snap open his eyes. "No!" Don gasped, it took a few moments before Donnie realised where he was. It wasn't his room. It was the infirmary part of his lab's makeshift hospital. Donnie went to sit up, only to realised he was restricted. His hands were tied to the sides of the metal frame of the cot he was laying on. His family had bound him to the bed with small chains, padded so they wouldn't rub into his wrist. When had they done that?

Though rational deduction Donnie understood why. He was a danger to them... But the new dark presence inside of him minded very much. They had chained him up just like the mad scientist had done... Why would they do this to him?! A sudden urge of panic struck the mutant. Donnie was suddenly up, violently trying to yank his wrist free.

"Yo bro, take it easy... Eeeasy, it's ok," His youngest brother assured him, he had been sitting beside him unnoticed. "I'm here Don. I promise you're ok." With a smile Mikey sweetly tried clearing the stained black from his face.

"Mikey unchain me please," Donnie pleaded as fear and fatigue rushed through him at random intervals without his control.

"I can't bro, I'm sorry. Really I am sorry... Leo said I'm not allowed to, in case you go all zombie vampire like again and try to... to bite me," Mikey said trying to make light of it, but failing miserably. He reflected so much of Donnie's sadness in his own face.

"No... no no no! Mikey your NOT chaining me down like an animal..." _That's what 'he' did!_ The smart turtle snapped hoping he sounded more irritated than upset. After a few minuets of struggling however he slumped in defeat.

Mikey's face scrunched up in misery. He knew his brother was more upset than he was letting on and he was hating this just as much. "I am sorry bro. I'm like so sorry... It's going to be ok though. Leo and Raph have gone to get Leatherhead. They will be here any second. He'll make you better... Please bro just try to be calm and more Donnie-like... That's your thing right...? You're always more... rational and … stuff." The younger brother tried to comfort him by stroking his forehead, but Donnie could tell that he was scared... _scared of him?_

Donnie stopped struggling in favour of deep breathing. "I'm sorry Mikey. Please believe me I didn't want to hurt any of you... I don't know what's happening to me."

"Don't worry. LH and father will know what to do. You just need to chillax here and you'll be back to your old genius, world saving self again in no time." The orange clad turtle finally smiled happy that Donnie appeared to be more himself. At least his eyes were back to normal.

Donnie sighed as he felt his depression getting the better of him. "Is everyone ok?" trying to relieve some of the guilt he was carrying. The face that followed his question didn't fulfil his wish however, Mikey's smile instantly transformed into a nervous frown. At that Donnie started to panic, thinking he had really hurt either Raph or sensei.

"No Don everyone is fine," Mikey quickly reassured him. "I'm just shaken up, Raph too... I don't think I have ever seen Raph so shaken out of his shell like that before..." He half smiled, then it vanished. "But after we brought you in here he got really angry. So was Leo. Not with you. At the guy who did this to you. I've never seen them that bad since you vanished. And you keep saying you're running out of time, whatever that means... So we're all freaking out about what's going to happen... so I think they want to find out before it's too late," at this point Mikey's voice was practically shaking. "We're not losing you again bro."

The bound turtle was about to ask what his brothers were planning on doing when doors to the infirmary suddenly opened, revealing a large giant crock. Leatherhead was here. The sight of him brought such relief. Somebody else was here who could explain what was happening to him.

…...

"You're really, seriously, expecting me, me Leo! To just sit around here and wait to see what happens to Don next?! Have you met me?" Raph's temper was on the rise, not that it had ever quit. His voice was laced with so much sarcasm his brother could walk through it.

Leo was just happy he hadn't started screaming.

The leader took a deep breath, he had to say this right, he had to _word_ this right. He had to watch everything around Raph. It was how one survived. "No Raph, I expect you to wait till nightfall. Like normal. Like we do you know, every day." …. Sarcasm also helps.

"The sun will be down in an hour. We're sitting on our shells here, just to save an hour? We're good bro, we can stealth our way through some light for that long," Raph insisted, shoving his green thumb-like thing into his plastron with pride.

Leo managed not to sigh. He had no doubt of his brother's abilities, but he also knew their behaviours. If he let Raph out early tonight than it would only get worse later on, he'd go out earlier and earlier as the nights moved on without answers. They were already having to risk scale and tail going out every night to let Raph release some energy, like some sort of hyper pet. He didn't want to be any more dangerous than his brother's personalities were already forcing him to be.

"Don't you worry Raph. We'll go up there, armed with tranquilizers, angry teenage hormones and …. Turtle power… It's one of my greatest joys in this world to look for a fight every night Raph truly, I can't wait," Raph opened his mouth to speak, " But I can wait an hour, and yes so can Donnie."

But Raph knew that Leo didn't completely get it. Leo hadn't been the one to watch Don, who was normally so level headed, get upset. He hadn't been the one who had to listen to him admit he was scared... Raph had promised that he would protect him, only to watch him moments later choke on some black poison. Then his mind disappears into a black hole of rage, and some narcissistic bastard on the street was responsible! Whoever this man was, he had made Rapheal break his promise and watch his baby brother get hurt once again.

Raph opened his mouth.

"Besides," Leo continued in a silent internal panic, "Mikey's still with him. I-I think they're talking. Donnie's hopefully... sane. Let's give them some more time huh? It'll be healthy for Don to have some Mikey time. We'll see him when we get back. When he's had more rest."

Raph closed his mouth.

Leo hid a secret victory fist clench against his thigh. Raph can be such a romantic. Not that he wasn't worried, or didn't want revenge, or to go see Donnie right now.

But what if emotions were some sort of trigger? If he's honest with himself Raph and he both have the tendency to get someone heated. The family couldn't afford another Donnie attack tonight. It would hurt something in all of them.

"Our own live in therapist huh?" Raph smirked referring to Mikey.

Leo smiled back, "Yeah."

Winding himself back down Raph walked over to Leo and sat himself beside his brother. It was a silent comfortable thing. Mikey slammed opened the door to the lab, ruining said everything. The orange turtle looked at the two in obvious blinking confusion. "What the heck are you two sitting around for?" the little twerp asked, "Donnie's awake and doing better, he needs some more rest though, no visits. So c'mon let's go! Geez you two are sleeee-ow today."

Leo never had a chance. Raph chased Mikey out of their home, a stream of threats and laughs trailed behind them as they ran. Nothing was bringing those two back tonight. Quickly Leo rushed to their new, hopefully temporary, supply closet by the dojo and snatched up everything they'd need. Three sets of tranquilizers, three sets of packs, extra hoses, and some goggles, Raph always _forgets_ his goggles. Struggles under the bulk of his pack Leo followed his brothers out, calling after them to wait up.

Donnie couldn't even watch them leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Thank you for waiting patiently for chapter. Since this chapter is quite long it has been separated into two, so next one will be soon. Hope you enjoy!**

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By the time Don woke up, the lair was completely quiet and he _knew_ that his brothers had left. The knowledge brought a new wave of panic. Every time he woke up he remembered a little more, and with that knowledge came the insistent thought that he can't be trusted to be alone with Splinter. Luckily Donnie knew that LH was in the lair, if he had another dark moment, LH could keep him from attacking his father again. The rat master was hardly defenceless, but he shouldn't have to stop one of his sons from trying to rip his throat out by himself. There was something that felt fundamentally wrong about that to Donnie. So having a 7 foot mutant around to keep him in check didn't hurt. He allowed himself to go back to sleep, still feeling anxious about the absence of his siblings.

He dreamed his anxieties. He knew his brother's had gone to seek whoever had done this to him…. And what terrified him was that he was sure that they _would_ find it! He dreamed of dark shadowed streets swallowing his family. Something really bad was waiting out there for them… Upon waking he remembered why.

Flashback

 _"This isn't possible?!"_

 _The bounded turtle found his head being slammed back against the metal vibrating pipes he was chained too. An unnaturally pale egg-head scientist was suddenly all up in his face with a look of confusion, framed with rage. He held up Don's DNA sample. "You don't have enough human DNA here to have ever been a human... In fact I have half a mind to say that it was the human cells that mutated you from animal. You... You were never human?!" As Donnie had predicted upon the madman making the discovery of his origin, the scientific idiot wasn't able to make heads or tails of it. It was simply too fantastic to imagine something that hadn't been human originally, somehow having the capability of learning things such as speech, or walking on two legs. Let alone his trained combat skills. No this was just too incredible for the poor phsycho. "Where did you come from? Where were you created? Accident or deliberate?" Seemingly forgetting that the turtle was gagged, the scientist frantically yelled his questions. Then slowly, as the realisation of his find started to dawn on him, Don watched his expression change from confusion to glee. "Well either way you're worth your weight in gold to me... Are there any more like you or are you just a one off? …. Judging from that look of panic in your eyes, I think you're not the only one, are you?"_

 _It was suddenly excruciatingly difficult not to accidentally give anything away with just his eyes. For the first time Donnie was happy that he was gagged, but it was too late. The man seemed to have already decided his answer. He quickly backed away with a hideously evil grin. "Oh this is just too good... If there are more of you, I will find them... Do you realise what this means?" He turned to look longingly at his dissection table. That wasn't promising. "It means I don't have to stay in the limited line of mixing human DNA with animal... If animals... can be mixed with human... A new species!" He trailed off with a look of wonder. It reminded Donnie of that movie Mikey made him watch every Halloween. The Scientist was looking at him the same way after Frankenstein would look at his monster._

 _Donnie gulped as he watched the human's expression rapidly change from a kid at Christmas to that of horror. He had just remembered something. A mistake... "Oh dear... This discovery was not part of the plan... If I had known this sooner, I wouldn't have injected my serum into you ... A VERY big mistake on my part... You have so much more value now than all the others here." He gestured to the other bound mutants/humans around him. "Well I can't change that right now. Unless...? I am afraid I will just have to kill you now instead. It's the only way to prevent it," he said this as though it was an inconvenience. "I need to take you apart. Find out what makes you tick before it's too late." The human quickly went to retrieve the metal table on wheels while Donnie went into silent panic mode. He didn't have much time to panic, only a moment later a large heavy dissection table was rolled in front of him, his captor fixed the brakes onto the wheels effortlessly with his toes. He looked at Donnie again, this time with a dark smirk that sent shivers down the turtles spine. Automatically Donnie started to struggle, attempting to break free from his binds._

 _His captor whipped out a small speaker phone from his pocket. "Lads I need help transferring a prisoner back onto the slab if you please." Seconds passed before a distorted voice answered, and it wasn't the one the man wanted. "What do you mean you can't at the moment?" He snapped. "In pursuit of what?..." His captor almost fell sideways as the room tilled to the side... Or was that just Donnie's dizziness? "Let it go. I don't need any more right now... this is much more important... That is an order. ...Stop what you're doing. I want the three of you in here now! I know we are on a deadline but-"_

 _Donnie's heart frantically pounded. "No this can't wait. Don't you understand, this is the biggest scientific discovery of my career that's developing back here...Oh Fine.. FINE! I will move him myself. But listen, the mutant terrapin, there may be more of them. Keep an eye out. Anything green I want in here ASAP, understand?" He snapped before aggressively tossing his phone aside. "I never get the value I deserve. Those ignorant fools were hired for their muscle, not their brains."_

 _His captor reached under a table retrieving a small black case of …. of sharp metal tools, great for dissecting with. Donnie felt himself drop a few shades as a scalpel was picked up... He was going to cut him up right here, and then go looking for his brothers! "Don't worry. I will be humane. You won't feel a thing... Sadly it's going to get messy, but it's not like I can hold you now. Your blood has been contaminated, and I need samples before the serum triggered your already mutated cells... It will be quick." He put the knife down and grabbed something else to which Donnie couldn't see._

 _Donnie decided he wasn't going to cower. If this man was going to kill him, he would look him in the eye as he approached. "I do hope there are more of you, then I can have a chance to study you in more detail. How far you've mentally advanced, how you developed, and all that good stuff. But more importantly I need you as specimens in jars right now... I must thank you. You are about to change science forever my friend." Donnie winced at the dark and sinister grin with 'really' bad teeth glaring at him._

 _How ironic. Donnie had always wanted to tribute to advancing science, but not like this. "I will understand if you find that of little comfort." A sudden jolting pain spiked through Donnie's side so hard that his teeth almost broke through the pipe in his mouth. Even the muzzle couldn't keep the turtle from muffling his screams. "Now don't make things hard on yourself. I promise you won't feel any pain... At least not compared to what you would have felt in a few days from now," the scientist eagerly jolted him again with a small stun gun. The electrical shock burned through the mutant's sensitive side above his hip, admitting an almost parallelising sensation all over his body. Before long Don knew that he wouldn't be able stand under his own power any more. It wasn't until his vision started to fuzz did Don feel the chain holding him up release. Instantly Don stumbled forward, catching himself onto the mobile dissection table._

 _Still dazed Donnie was only partly aware that large hands were roughly trying to lift him up and onto the cold surface. The same hands then moved to his arms, yanking them up harshly to try and lock them down in the metal restrains. When suddenly the room gave away again, tipping far to the right._

 _Ok that was not the drugs. The room WAS moving._

 _This sent the table and the two of them tipping over each other. Don rolled off the table and crashed them both onto the floor before sliding and colliding into one of the other prisoners legs._

 _This was Don's chance. As weak as he was, he had to try. His shell had bashed into his captor's chest, winding him on impact. The two of them were still in an awkward heap on the floor, the turtle twisted his arms around till it was free before punching the bastard as hard as he could in the face. The human fell back._

 _Donnie struggled to pick himself up, after he did he told himself to run straight for the double doors. They hadn't even been locked. The next thing Donnie saw was the street and then the ground coming up to meet him at a million miles an hour... or was he going down to meet it? A shooting pain vibrating up his shell... Donnie looked back expecting to see the man following him, but there was NOTHING! No trace of the lab, or the other prisoners... There was just the street his shell had bounce off. But over run with panic and pain, he couldn't dwell on the fact that he had just fallen out of thin air, instead he just ran!_

 _Just keep running, was his only thought. The running became oblivion... The last thing he remembered was trying to yank at the strap muzzle bound around his head, then nothing._

End flashback

Donnie again swallowed hard. At least now he remembered how he had escaped.

Dumb freaking luck!

And now this Frankenstein was looking for his brothers, and they had left the lair looking for him! Crap crap crap!

They would be locked up just like him, in that moving room! _Moving_ room? Now that Donnie remembered more he thought it was odd... it wasn't just the effects of being drugged, so why was the room moving? The lights above had swung back and forth, casting shadows all over the place. The floor under his feet had rumbled like an engine... The ground had been moving fast when he had escaped. His injuries proved that... and he certainly didn't escape in the same place where he had been taken, but then again he hadn't been taken that far, it was close to where he was first captured, he was sure of it.

Ohmygod! How could he have been so stupid!? He must have been heavy drugged not to put the pieces together sooner... But then why couldn't he have seen anything after? Well it _could_ have just been a concoction of shock and drugs?

 _Tick tock tick tock...tick...tock...tick...tock - "Donatello?"_ A light in the infirmary suddenly flooded the room and Splinter was rushing in, closely followed by their large mutant friend Leatherhead. "I thought you were still sleeping, but we heard you hyperventilating from the lab. What is wrong my son? Are you in pain?" His father sweetly brushed a furry paw across his forehead. The concern on the old rat's features was obvious. LH meanwhile appeared at his other side, checking his vitals on the heart monitor Donnie hadn't even realised he was hooked up too.

"No no I'm fine," Donnie protested. His wrists were rubbing uncomfortably against the chains... Somehow they were feeling even tighter against his skin than before. "But I've remembered something... Father w-where are my brothers? You have to tell them to come home right away," the genius surprised himself by how loud and desperate he sounded.

LH tilled his head to the side. "My friend be calm and speak slowly. What are you saying?"

"My brothers are looking for the ones who did this to me... but they don't realise that they are being hunted. I know where I was being kept...sort of... I was stupid not to realise earlier... That's how they could get around so fast, and why I couldn't remember where I was! Father you have to call Leo and tell them to stay off the street!" Donnie said desperately but as clearly as he could.

Splinters ears flattened. "Donatello take control of yourself. Please my son be calm," the father pleaded lightly pushing the pressure points on the side of his neck. Not enough to knock him out, just enough to warn Donatello that he might if he didn't calm down.

"W-what?" Donnie now started to get a little irritated. Again he took a moment to steady his breathing. Was his anxiety really making him a babbling mess, to the point that he could not be understood? Why wasn't Splinter listening to him? Yes his animalistic attack earlier had probably shaken his father, but he was saying his brothers were in danger. Leo, Raph, and Mikey were out there likely looking in every dark building for some crazy mad scientist armed men in some lab somewhere... but they _weren't_ in a building! His brothers would never see this coming... _literally!_

 _Speaking nice and slowly,_ Donnie told himself before opening his mouth again. "You have to listen to me, they're in danger," it felt slow to Donnie, but LH and Splinter just looked at one another before back at him. Their brows creased further. They looked... confused.

"Donatello? My son I don't understand what you are saying, speak slowly."

Donnie blinked in surprise. He was talking just fine. Why couldn't they understand him? "I AM speaking slowly. What's the matter with you both? My brothers are being hunted like all the other mutants- Father... what's wrong? Why are you two looking at me like that? Don't you understand me?" The lost look on his father's and friend's face made the turtle's heart start to pound... He wasn't having a stroke was he?

"LH what's wrong with him? Why is he losing his speech?" The alarm in Splinter's voice had an obvious side effect of panic.

"What?! What the shell are you saying? What do you mean I'm losing my speech? I can understand myself fine?" Donnie yelled but the blank looks that followed his questions cut him dead. They really _didn't_ understand what he was saying.

Leatherhead's voice quickly adopted a forced calm, but his eyes told a different story. "Don't worry, I'm going to run some blood tests on you Donatello. It won't take me long to see what's causing these effects," LH quickly went to get a needle from the med cabinet, "I have already collected a sample of that black oil substance that was in your system earlier... It could be another side-effect from that," LH explained in full doctor mode. Donnie thought he would be relieved by this. This was a tone he was used to hearing, and using. Science is what he would draw upon when something threatened them, but the darkness gathering around the edge of his brain seemed to be pulling him away from everything familiar.

He was feeling sick again and the room started to spin. Quickly he wriggled himself down, forcing himself to lay flat so he could only see the ceiling with a bit of Splinter's face in view.

Tick... tock...tick...tock – every muscle was starting to burn. "Donatello stay with me," his father's voice, though right beside him, now sounded much further away. "Whatever happens to you in this world, remain here," the old rat placed his hand on Donnie's head, "This is where you are strongest. This is where you can stand your ground. Hold on here, and never let go." His master's voice was comforting, as though he was in his mind with him. Donnie felt like he was about to fall and vanish into a pit, and his father's voice was the only thing preventing him from falling into it.

"Ow!" a stinging in his mouth was followed by a bitter iron flavour. Donnie winced as he bit into his tongue, but his hands still bothered him more. Why were these chains so damn tight? Pins and needles rushed up his arms from his fingertips... Donnie could barely feel them anymore.

"Don't worry my friend. We will find out what's happening soon," the large croc assured Donnie, he turned with a needle and pushed the tip into Donnie's arm, withdrawing blood. Don blinked. He hadn't even felt it going in... Or even realised that LH had returned... Why has the room suddenly grown dark?

Still fighting the urge to vomit intense heat suddenly reigned supreme as sweat soaked into the sheets, his breathing was becoming faster. "Donatello?" Splinter placed the back of his paw on his forehead, his father's expression grew even more concerned. "Leatherhead, he is burning up," but the alarmed voices were drifting further away from him now... But he could still feel his father's presence in his mind, holding him tighter than ever... Maybe that was because something in the real world was trying to pull him away.

"Donatello can you hear me?" LH shined a small light into his eyes, but it felt more like he was pouring acid into them. The turtle suddenly let out an involuntary shriek trying to get away from it... Then he growled like he had done before, instantly making LH and Splinter back away for a moment. Oh no! He wasn't having another animalistic take over was he? No he had to hold on... Donnie forced himself to bite his tongue again. He had to stay focussed.

"His pupils are fully dilated... something's wrong - Blood pressure – high – his leg.. ..." his friend's voice was becoming more garbled... Hearing was always the last thing to go.

The desperate cries were then drowned out by a loud beeping filling the room... Was that his heart monitor alert? Why was it going off? Wasn't _he_ the one attached to it?

His vision became limited to uneven spots of what looked like oil on water of reds and blacks, he could just about make out the two faces above him. Concern was long gone. Now all Donnie could see was fear on their faces. Then he heard them both gasp.

Why were they gasping at him? Why was it sooooo hot in the room? Donnie was sure his entire body was swelling up... His upper leg definitely was... His joints painfully pulled, involuntarily twisting in ways they shouldn't have been able to. Burning pain pulsed all over his body, quickly spreading into both his eyes until it truly was only the red and black spots that clouded his vision. What was happening to him!?

Donnie felt a hot tear run down the side of his face... He was scared. For a moment LH and Splinter's faces vanished as images of the kidnapped boy next to him came into his mind. He had watched the kid change... His skin melted away and turned into something with a blueish shade... His body increase in size... Now it was his turn.

"DONATELLO!" His father yelling at him brought him back. Donnie could feel his hands shaking so much that his chains rattled against the protective bed bars he was bound too.

 _"No matter what happens, don't let go of your mind!"_ Splinter's voice kept telling him, but the burning was growing... was he on fire? Suddenly Donnie become aware that LH was pinning his shoulders down to the bed! - Air? Where was the air? - And why were the chains cutting off his circulation? His arms were swelling up. He had to get free!

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick - "Father!" The teen had to look very hard to find his master's face in the forest of fireworks around him... Splinter was there. Donnie could still feel him mentally... "Father I have to find my brothers... They're in danger... He's coming after them..." Each word Donnie said was a struggle, but even if they couldn't understand him he had to get this out. It was important... "Father!" He said again yanking his arm's harder on the chains... Red! All he could see was red...Why was his vision red?

"I'm here my son. I won't leave you." Donnie did not at all like the sound of Splinter's voice. He sounded very afraid.

Tick tock...Tick...

 _Oh no_..."Times up!" Then Donatello's felt his chains break free from the metal bars as another involuntarily scream of pain was ripped from his lungs.

…...


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Here is next chapter! Enjoy!**

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"LeatherHead please be honest, will you be able to help Donatello?" Splinter sat in the lab watching their large mutant friend examine the black substance Donatello had vomited up earlier through his son's telescope. Being the only other mutant genius in the area, and a close friend of the clan, if anyone could give the family some clue as to what was happening to his third youngest, the large croc could.

"I hope so... But I must confess I am struggling to identify what this substance is... I have never seen anything like it before, so I have nothing to compare it with... All I know is that it has saturated his blood cells.. And it is moving like it's, _alive,_ " LH said in an uneasy voice. "Which suggests bacterial, but it's harder to explain than that. It has bonded with Donatello's genetic make-up. There is a reaction going on, but rather than depleting cells, its building them up.. _._ But the growth isn't natural... I should take a blood sample from Donatello to see what's going on for sure." The croc shook his head somewhat. He straightened himself and glared down menacingly at the telescope, as if it was the tool's fault for not showing him what he wanted to see.

"He is asleep right now, but as soon as he wakes you may take what you need. Anything you can do I will be forever grateful for," the father nodded before looking down at his hands, and to his own surprise he found them shaking.

"Splinter are you alright?" The large mutant turned to face the rat, who was not able to hide the sadness in his voice.

The weary master looked up and sighed. "As a clan we have faced many dangers and made many enemies. So many times one of them has been hurt or almost killed in battle. My boys are strong and not afraid of death, and I have always managed to stay strong for them... As long as I could still sense my children's spirits, I could help them to find their way back... In life _or_ the afterlife. But when Donatello first went missing I experienced an internal pain I have never felt before... A panic, that everything was out of my control. For I couldn't sense him," the rat said genuinely ashamed, as though he had failed Donnie in some way. "My sons tried to cope in their own way, and they never gave up hope of finding him...But they could feel my fear, and that scared them almost as much... _I_ failed to stay strong when they needed me."

"But he escaped and found his way back because of all of you and your teachings," LH said reassuringly.

The father shook his head, "LeatherHead, you don't understand, I couldn't sense him, and I _still_ can't. Not like before. It's like something is blocking us." LH had to admit it was unnerving seeing a master always so strong, suddenly so lost. Now he understood why the old rat was so upset. Splinter was the clan's rock, and the brothers seeing their parent like this would scare anyone, no matter how old they were. But LH did feel that the rat was being too hard on himself. He was their father, teacher, and master, but he wasn't invincible. He feared for the safety of his children just like any parent would. He was allowed a weak moment. "What do you mean you can't sense him now? He's here."

"Yes he is... But a shadow still looms over him, keeping him from me. He's here but he isn't... And after this morning, I can tell you with every fiber of my being that it was NOT my son. There was nothing of my boy there during his, _episode._ Something had taken him over... It almost felt like this other 'person' was …. Was killing him," the rat needed to look away for a moment, "I would have said that wasn't Donatello at all laying down in the next room had I not been able to break through that new mental wall and connect with him when I brought him back... I can't say this in front of my sons, but I am afraid. I am afraid of what was done to him?"

"We shall find out my friend, I promise. But in the meantime I think Donatello needs you more than ever. He is all alone. If you can't hear him, that means he can't hear you, right?"

Splinter was about to answer the croc when his ears perked up, he suddenly looked towards the infirmary. "What is it?" LH asked.

"Donatello. His breathing is... wrong? Something is wrong," the old rat was up and quickly making his way over towards the dark room.

"Donatello?" Splinter flicked on the lights to find his son laying in the bed gasping for air, clearly scared of something. He looked to have just woken up from a nightmare. Concerned, the father quickly made his way over, followed by LeatherHead. "I thought you were still sleeping, but we heard you hyperventilating from the lab. What is wrong my son? Are you in pain?"

His hand automatically reaching to brush across his son's forehead, Donatello was hot. Not extremely, but too hot for cold blooded turtles. Seeing Splinter's concern LH made his way over to the heart monitor. The two of them were so caught up in examining the machinery that they hadn't realised that Donatello had started talking.

 _"N..o ohkae fick..."_ Donnie said twisting his wrists against the chains. It broke Splinter's heart that he had to restrain his son, but it was for his own good...Wait...What had Donatello just said? Splinter looked at his son. _"Btu hav rmbembed sumtin.. farvar whver me bfiyjwes? Uo hav twoooo hell hem ti cim hom rit vay,"_ His son pleaded loud and desperately.

LeatherHead glanced at Splinter before looking back to Donatello, his head tilted to the side curiously, "My friend be calm and speak slowly. What are you saying?"

Don blinked at them both before speaking again. _"Mea bfiywes ate ukking for teehhh von hoo dade ths to vee... btt thves doth veales hat been untted. I no var I doz been kep. I doz stupy nt t velse elise... At fow tay cud gt ron so fick, and viy I cudnt remevm var I woz! Fothmer uo av to corl Leo an thell thm t seey of strates,"_ Donatello rambled on.

Splinters ears flattened. The only thing they understood from that was _'Leo,'_ every other word was a slur to the point where it wasn't even understandable. His fever must be making him delirious. "Donatello take control of yourself. Please my son be calm." If Donatello was this ill getting himself worked up would only make him worse. Reluctantly the father lightly pressed down on a pressure point on the side of his Donatello's neck. Instantly he ceased his rambling and struggling. All of his sons where aware that Splinter wouldn't hesitate using this method if any of them were a danger to themselves or to others, but Donnie didn't seem to want to be knocked out right now. He was trying to tell them something.

 _"Wot?"_ The two could see that the young teen was starting to get annoyed... But Donatello forced himself to breathe deeply before he spoke again. Splinter moved his hands away. What was he trying to say?

 _"Uo va oo fissn ooo he, aim id dagi."_ Splinter and LH looked at each other again. Something was very wrong here... Maybe his tongue was swelling up?

Starting to feel very alarmed the master forced Donnie to look at him, "Donatello? My son I don't understand what you are saying, speak slowly."

 _"Oo MA kaking ooly. Vats t nearer wit oo tott? Mnmn rorriers r ben oted lil al t oth nunanins – faffef... totchhh won? Whhh agk oo lloooth tchh oo kake tha? Tot oo ununstttn oeee?"_ Donnie said with increasingly panicked breaths. Though his words didn't make any sense it was clear he was becoming scared as the heart monitor picked up his anxieties.

"LeatherHead what is wrong with him? Why is he losing his speech?" Splinter asked in alarm, not able to contain his own worries.

 _"Tot?! Tchot hhck ell oo sasshn? Ttot oo menth nnmnn oog mmmn spc? Iiiin cshn unernsnnd mnm efffth fifnnn?"_ His son yelled before suddenly cutting himself off and dropping a few shades of green.

LeatherHead remained calm, though it was clear his own concern was growing along with Splinter's. "Don't worry. I am going to run some blood tests on you my friend. It won't take me long to see what's causing these effects," LeatherHead dipped his head sadly down at Donatello and left the two to get the syringe, "I have already collected a sample of that black oil substance that was in your system earlier... The loss of speech must be another symptom from that."

But Splinter was only half listening to LeatherHead. _He_ was the father. He was the one who should be taking care of his child. Something inside of Donatello was attacking him and Splinter didn't know what. He didn't know what to do, but Splinter did know that he was the only one that could reach him. He had to be strong for his son.

Donatello's eyes drifted out of focus. Had he not been lying down already Splinter was sure he would have fallen down. The genius shuffled himself down the bed until his head was off of his pillow and he lay flat. He must be feeling dizzy if he is making himself lie flat so that his blood will run even. It was a good sign of functional inner thoughts, but somehow the action made him look even smaller to Splinter. Sweat had started to roll off Donatello's forehead... and his muscles had become unnaturally still, as though he was in pain and afraid to move. He was slipping away again. "Donatello stay with me," Splinter pleaded. Like before he rested his hands on either side of Donnie's head. This time when he spoke it was only in his mind. He just hoped Donnie could still hear him.

 _"Whatever happens to you in this world, remain here,"_ Touching his forehead the father winced at how much hotter his son had become in this short amount of time, _"This is where you are strongest. This is where you can stand your ground. Hold on here, and never let go."_ He could feel Donatello as he spoke. But he was far away, clinging to life on the end of a very thin rope, and the darkness surrounding him was a whirlpool... But he knew Donatello would hold on, for he was giving his son something to hold on to, and Splinter would _never_ let go.

 _"Ow!"_ Donatello said, his muscles started to shake as the pain grew, he was fighting, but they didn't know against what.

"Don't worry my friend. We will find out what's happening soon," LeatherHead took the blood he needed, Donnie didn't even flinch through the procedure. His eyes were so unfocused, yet he continuously blinked hard as though he was struggling to see.

…."Donatello?" Splinter watched more sweat run off his child's body. "LeatherHead, he's burning up."

LH pulled out his small flash light and shone it into Donnie's eyes. "Donatello can you hear me?" The shriek response made them both jump back, the growling that followed was even more unnerving. The normally sweet turtle snapped at his friend's hand like an animal.

 _"No!"_

"His pupils are fully dilated. Something is very wrong and his blood pressure is getting higher... And look at his leg! It's swelling up," LH reported as he looked over Donatello but his examination was cut off as the heart monitor suddenly went off the scale. Every small symptom seemed to be spiking. Donnie's reflexes were now out of control, yet they seemed mostly to have the goal of yanking at his chains, trying to get free. It was only then that the two noticed how much bigger Donatello's arms and hands were. They were swelling up so fast that the chains had started to cut into his wrists. The teenager's breathing was now fast and erratic as the pain spread around his body completely took him over.

The rat master was doing his best to restrain his son by pressing down on his chest, when Donatello suddenly gave out an involuntary gasp. He opened eyes that had turned red! Not blood-shot red. No this was an inhuman, bright RED, and they were glowing! "DONATELLO!" His father yelled, Donnie looked at him. Fear was the only thing that the pain had not yet managed to push out. All they could hear now was the clanking of the chains against the bars, but that wasn't as bad as Donnie's screams.

 _"No matter what happens, don't let go of your mind!"_ Splinter yelled psychically. There was no point trying to speak to him on the earth plane anymore. Donnie could not see or feel anything passed the pain. His entire body was now twice the size of what it should be.

 _"Faffef!"_ Don screamed out. Though Splinter didn't understand what he was saying he was sure that Donnie was talking to him... or at least in his direction, Donnie couldn't see him anymore. _"Faffef ooii nanmm t innch mnmm rorrsers... thchthre nmn danngg... Hsssh minm affth mnnnm... Faffef!_

"I'm here my son. I won't leave you," Splinter said still trying to hold Donatello down. LeatherHead too was having to help keep his friend under control when something grabbed them both and suddenly the chains were gone. Two giant claws roughly shoved them back across the room.

The rat and the croc both fell back horrified at the blood curling scream that was ripped from the teen's lungs... The screams were understandable, considering what was happening to him. Donnie was up, gripping the cot frame for support while crouching forward. They could hear the sound of his bones breaking as they rapidly expanded. His flesh rippled, making a cringing curdling sound as it stretched. His shell grew and split, becoming more jagged in shape. There was more bone cracking and suddenly a much longer tail grew from the turtle's back portion... If Don had been wearing any of his gear, it would have been ripped apart by now. His olive green skin burned into a deeper shade... Even the muscles in his face pulled and stretched, his beak transformed into something much longer, like a crocodile jaw... His teeth bulged out over his bottom lip, as did the claws on his hands.

Suddenly the cot collapsed under his weight. The once small turtle was now resembling the same size of LeatherHead, if not bigger, and his screams soon turned into insidious bear like growling.

"My son!" Splinter yelled in terror.

 _"F-father... H..help ...me!"_

...

"Anything?" Raph spat resentfully into his phone at the lack of action at his end of town, and there _really_ was none. After Donnie told them about the other mutants they had the good sense to take the mutant tracker with them to try and find the lowlife responsible for all of this. It was Donnie's tracker, built a few weeks prior when the four of them had been having to hunt down and tranquillise infected mutant humans, back then Donnie's home-made mutation tracker was buzzing with life. Now it was eerily quiet.

"Nope. All quiet this side," Leo's voice answered through the mouth piece, and for once that didn't sound like a good thing.

"All silent here too. There's not one normal person out on the street either. Not one, " Mikey chimed in on the open line. "Don't you think that's a bit weird?"

"Well it is 2AM. Most places are dead at this time," Leo stated running along a building that gave him a good view of the Brooklands Bridge in the distance.

"No I mean it's weird because we have spent the last month trying to contain the mutant outbreak, and now suddenly there's no more mutants. I don't think they have all gone on vacation. Nights were the time they all came out to play, soooooo where are they?" The youngest sounded like he was pouting down at the phone, "And you know what else?! For the city that never sleeps, why is it suddenly like a ghost town?"

"I never thought I would say this fearless, but the little runt has a point. There are no more mutants, but there also no more crime either. Everyone is just staying inside," said Raph, "I feel like we're missing some big piece of some stupid puzzle here, and everyone else is in on it and running scared, besides us."

Mikey being right was always a good and bad thing, depending how you looked at it. On the rare occasion the orange clad turtle took a moment to stop and look over a situation, his instincts were usually dead on... The down side however was what he was right about usually led too bad ends. After Bishop's mutant outbreak had sent the city into a frenzy, even the army struggled to tackle the beasts hiding out in the dark corners of the streets. And now there was nothing.

The leader sighed in frustration. "Ok. Let's do one more sweep of the city, but keep your trackers on. We are mutants and I don't want anyone getting the jump on us government or otherwise. If this guy is hunting mutants, then we just have to find one first," Leo said urgently. He had known from the moment they reached the surface that this job was going to be too big. New York City wasn't exactly short on hiding spaces. They could've been keeping Donnie and the others in all kinds of different, seemingly normal buildings, a warehouse, an office block, a basement. The three of them couldn't check every one of them. Finding a mutant to bait the trap with was their only chance.

For a while Leo listened to his two younger brothers muttering to each other down the line.

"This is all Bishop's fault you know," Raph snapped suddenly.

"Not that am disagreeing with you Raphie, because Bishop is to blame for a lot of stuff wrong with this world, but is there something particular you had in mind? He didn't take Donnie," Mikey pointed out.

"No but it's his fault for the mutant outbreak. If he hadn't started this mess than we wouldn't have had to be rushing around the city tranquillising everything, and Donnie wouldn't have been snatched by whoever's deciding to get up close and personal with mutants. For that alone Bishop should pay!"

Mikey nodded in agreement, not that Raph could see him do it, "Bishop is a lousy Secret Agent. You would think he would be the type to clean up after himself and keep all of this, well you know, secret," Mikey said.

"What was that Mikey?" Leo asked, coming to a sudden halt at his brother's statement.

"I said you would think Bishop would want to keep this all a secret, you know, an X-files type of thing, he should've sent someone to clean up after his mess. That's what they do on TV... instead he's just left all that evidence behind, what with the alien blood still out and about causing the outbreak. I mean _we_ figured it out... If any of it was traced back to him, he can't really deny it could he?"

"Mikey you're a genius!" Leo suddenly said so loud that the other two had to whip the phone away from their ear slits.

"Say what?" Raph chimed in, genuinely confused by his big brother's statement.

"Why thank you bro, I already knew that. But why this time?" Mikey asked smiling smugly.

"Bishop _cleaning up_ after himself... That's exactly what he did. Snatching mutants off the street, he's covering his tracks by kidnapping the evidence!" Leo announced.

"That's a good theory bro except Donnie made no mention of Bishop when they had him, and Bishop's people know who Donnie is. He's not an infected mutated human. There would be no reason for one of Bishop's men to add him to a kidnapping list," Raph added sceptically.

"Eh guys?" Mikey chimed in.

"Donnie said they were experimenting and transforming humans into mutants... Not a great plan at being all X-files like and covering up his mistake. In fact he's making it worse," Raph lost the momentum to make his point as he went back to keeping an eye on the tracker.

"Mmm Leo situation here - "

Leo nodded, "I see your point Raph, but even if Bishop isn't one pulling the strings here, he _could_ still be a possible lead. I mean if this group responsible isn't involved with Bishop directly, how much do you bet that Bishop isn't already on their trail?"

"You know you two might want to know-" Mikey tried again

"A chance to pay Bishop a visit? Even if he isn't involved directly, I am down with that," Raph smiled darkly.

"YO! Doc and Grumpy, fancy listening up a minute!" Mikey snapped without an ounce of the sarcasm he was known for, rendering the two brothers silent. "That's more like it. Just thought you might like to know my tracker has picked up on something and whatever that something is, it's pretty damn big! I'm following it now, I'll see if I can get a visual," the youngest brother followed the signal to the end of the building's roof before peering down into a dark dead alley below. The signal was still strongly signalling that there was a mutant in this alley, but there wasn't anyone there. "Can't see anything," Mikey muttered quietly, "If there's a mutant down there, it's too dark. It could be hiding. I'll go down for a closer look."

"No Mikey not alone. Stay right where you are! Raph and I are on our way," Leo ordered.

Mikey bit his tongue in irritation. He just wanted to look. He didn't need them to watch his shell for that! Why did they have to treat him like a baby! "I just want to see if there is anything there. Hold on a moment," Mikey slowly made his way down the fire escape, but he still couldn't see anything. All that was in the alley was a large black moving van. It was so big it took up almost the entire alley. Since it was dark Mikey hadn't seen it until he was half way down. But the signal was stronger than ever. The mutant's where here, and it was becoming very obvious that there was only one place that they could be.

"Do you see anything?" Raph chimed in down the phone.

"I see a van. A huge ass black moving van... and I think the signal is coming from _inside_ it," Mikey gulped getting closer until he was just above the vehicle. "Guys I think I am on to something here," just as Mikey said that, the engine roared to life. The van was leaving. "Shell it's on the move. I'm going to follow it."

"No Mikey back off! Wait for me and Raph to get there."

"I'm not losing it!"

"Mikey I mean it. I am asking you seriously and properly. Don't follow it. It could be a trap or something worse. Would you mind sounding a bit more scared," Leo warned him while somehow flying across a roof top.

"But what if this is what we have been looking for?" Mikey wasn't sure of anything. He only had the signal and the van, but it was the most they had had all night. He couldn't just ignore this.

"No, sound a bit more scared than that please," Leo snapped.

"Mikey if you do _anything_ before we get there, I'll kick your shell from here to Brookland! Got me!? Think of what happened to Donnie," Raph huffed hoping Mikey would listen, that was the best threat he had.

"Oh for – bro just follow my tracker!" Mikey snapped at them then hung up knowing he had just landed himself in a heap of trouble, but he didn't have time for that now, the van was reversing out of the alley. Mikey only had a second to let go of the ladder and lightly land on its roof. But just as Mikey was about to go van surfing, something else happened that only added to the turtle's suspicions that this was what they had been looking for.

For just as the large vehicle took off Mikey yelped as the sleek black surface under him suddenly _vanished!_ All he could see below him was smooth cement. _"What the shell?"_ The young turtle quickly looked about him, most definitely freaked out! The van was gone... and yet it wasn't. He could see the road moving and he could still feel the cold roof under him, but there was nothing there. Anyone looking out their window right now would be in for a shock after seeing a ninja turtle flying down 5th Avenue 10 feet high off the road! Disorientated Mikey tried to readjust his grip on the van's roof to stop himself from falling, but he couldn't see what he should be holding onto. "No way! No freaking way! An invisible van!"

The teen was so shocked at what was going on that he didn't notice his phone buzzing... or he just wished he didn't. How was he going to explain this?

Reluctantly he clicked on his head piece connecting him back to his two brothers.

"You are in SO much trouble you little brat!" Raph snapped breathlessly while running faster towards his brother's location.

"Later Raph," Leo interrupted. "Mikey what's going on?" He said this so hard it made the orange turtle flinch. "Your signal is going at 40 miles per hour down town, so I'm going to guess you're hitching a ride? Damn it Mikey we could have tracked it from the roof tops!"

"Yeah I'm on top of the van bro... and there's been a bit of a development," Mikey was confident he could deflect his disobedience for a moment and get his brother's back on track with this next bit of information. "I don't think we could have tracked this van dude, because IT'S GOD DAMN INVISIBLE!"

There was an entire 10 second delay before the orange clad turtle heard anything resembling a response.

"I'm sorry what? Are you being serious? Because now is not the time to mess around!" Raph said with his you're-talking-out-of-your-shell tone.

"What do you mean invisible?" Leo asked sounding like he had stopped running.

"I mean it's invisible like I can't SEE it! It actually looks like I am flying right now! Oh I wish I had my super hero costume on...I would look sooooo freaking cool!" He had to yell above the wind noise. But it was only then something so obvious dawned on all of them... An invisible van! No wonder they could never find Don.

"But how...Wait! Invisible like the Shredder's invisible foot soldiers?" Leo hollered down the line. "No! Mikey back off NOW. Get out of there. Do NOT follow!"

Mikey did come to a halt, but not because his brother ordered him too. The van came to a stop just 10 blocks from where it had been parked. A short trip, and even better once the engine cut the van was visible again, giving Mikey a chance to conceal himself.

"Mikey what's happening?" The teen had almost forgotten that his two brothers were still there on the phone line.

"We've stopped. I can see the van again... It must only be invisible when it's moving...This is some start trek stuff man," He said in a nervous voice. Suddenly he heard two doors from the driver's seats and then the back door to the van electronically open. At least four men in black army gear, with protective headwear, goggles, and armed with large rifles hastily stepped onto the street. "Got company bros. Bad guy military reject types."

"We are almost there Mikey. Just hold on," Leo said before hanging up. Raph and he would be at their brother's location in a few minutes. They knew there little brother could hold his own, but they didn't want to take a chance without knowing what he was up against.

"I'm telling you there's a signal and it's just around here!" Mikey heard one of the armed men say.

"Well where is it?" Another snapped frustrated.

"Right here. It's practically on top of us," The first one replied somewhat nervous and confused. They must have a mutant tracker just like Mikey had... which mean the mutant they were tracking right now... must be _him_. Oh shell. Well better to use the element of surprise before they spotted him. Weapons at the ready the ninja leapt of the roof of the van landing on top of one of the body guards. The human never knew what hit him. All any of them saw was a green fist.

Mikey made short work of the four humans. Under two minutes they were left lying on the ground with the large vehicle doors left ajar. No one else came to greet him. He was already in trouble. What was a bit more?

Against his, well Leo's better judgement, and both of his brother's nagging voices in the back of his head telling him what a stupid, stupid, stupid idea this was, Mikey slowly made his way forward to check the inside of the van. He readied himself to strike anyone or anything that came at him, but once he was inside the young teen dropped his guard, unable to believe the horror that lay before him.

There must have been about 20 beings at the most... Mutants and humans, except the humans weren't completely human any more... It was as though they were half way through a mutation. Some limbs were bigger than others. Their bones pushed outwardly against their skin in ways they shouldn't be, as though the skeletons were slowly trying to escape by working their way out of the flesh. All of them were chained up to both sides of the van walls. Their wrists were cut up and bloody up from the chains binding their hands above their heads. Most of them were unconscious, but some were still awake and were looking at the teen with wide pleading eyes... But none of them could ask for help, as they were all bound with identical muzzles, like they were animals.

Considering what was happening to their bodies, the eerie silence was even more terrifying. These people should all be screaming in pain. The whole scene was grotesque.

Mikey was so shocked at the sight before him that he couldn't stop his eyes from burning with unshed tears. He even hated himself for thinking that some of these people shouldn't be alive with what was happening to them. No wonder his brother had had such a break down after being kept here in the centre of all this for days.

Not daring to venture to deep into the van, Mikey made his way over to the first person he saw. Hanging up to his right was a man. His skin looked partly melted off, but deep green scaly skin was slowly growing in its place around his cheeks and down his neck. What was left of his human skin was white and dry, shedding off and falling to the floor, like a snake shedding its skin... And his fingers were much longer than they should be for a human. His eyes meanwhile were bloodshot. He looked to be in agony as tears ran down his face. Mikey had picked him because he looked the least worse of all of them.

"Don't worry I'll get you out of here," Mikey reassured while desperately trying to get the muzzle off the man's face. As he unclipped the contraption and slowly brought it away a long thin black tube followed out of his throat. The poor man began to choke, coughing up the plastic as it went... Finally his face was free, but a ton of black fluid also poured out of his mouth as he coughed. Mikey quickly stepped back so he didn't get covered in it.

Horrified and really kind of grossed out, Mikey went to try and free his hands when the man spoke. "Kill me!" Was all he said, "Please just kill me." He begged in a cold but clear voice. Mikey instantly looked away. Who the shell had done this to these people? And why? He felt so sick...

"MIKEY!" The sounds of his brothers were just outside the van now. They sounded somewhere between scared, panicked, and furious.

The mutant helplessly looked back in the man's direction. "I'm sorry dude... I can't... But I'll be right back... I promise." He quickly turned, not wanting to see any more of this horror story. He would rather face the wrath of both his brothers than see any more of _this._ He didn't have to wait long. Once he was outside again he could see Leo and Raph running towards him. He was about to be yelled at, but the look on his face stopped them in their tracks.

"Mikey what the shell! Are you alright? ….What's wrong?" They both rushed over towards him, only to find Mikey shaking.

"What happened?" Raph quickly looked him over for any obvious signs of injury.

"I'm really not alright... I would say I am three buses, a train ride, and a long walk away from alright," He pointed inside the van. "They're all in there, just like Donnie said... Dudes it's awful!"

"You went in there alone!" Leo said out-raged but Mikey cut him off.

"Don't start with me you two. Just don't even start until you have seen what's in there," he snapped, but it was obvious he was repressing tears. No trace of clever wit, no sarcasm could be seen anywhere on the young teen's face. In fact he was shaking so much it yanked hard at the brother's heart strings. It had Raph so taken back by his little brothers lack of... Mikey-like traits, he genuinely was at a loss of how to comfort him. So instead he did the only thing he knew his little brother really wanted, he took him into his arms and held him until he calmed down. Mikey had done that for him enough times, it usually worked.

Finally Mikey moved back, sending a pleading look towards Leo. "We have to do something bros. We can't just leave them," He pleaded.

"We won't. Ok let see what we are dealing with," Leo said leading the brothers inside while trying to mentally put together some plan of what they could possibly do. However upon laying eyes on the captives and seeing the horror for himself, all other thoughts went out the window... that is of course until they heard the doors instantly shut behind them!

"I knew there must be more of you," said a cold and insidious voice that brought a chill down each of the brother's shells... But that was soon followed by a seething anger. "Tell me, where is the fourth one? The one that got away? He should be ready by now?"


End file.
